Author: hhns

Soulja Boy was forced to exit an American Airlines flight on Friday, because the 23-year-old rapper refused to take his seat. According to TMZ, a flight attendant ordered all the passengers to sit down. Soulja Boy continued to walk the aisles of the plane even after the airline employee informed him what would happen if he did not comply. He was then removed from the plane.

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Soulja Boy spoke with TMZ about the incident offering an apology to all involved.

“It was a bad night and me and the flight staff didn’t see eye to eye,” said the “Crank That” performer. “In hindsight, I’m extremely sorry for all inconvenience caused to the passengers and employees of the airline.”

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Kendrick Lamar says he is “trying to murder” rappers onBig Sean’s “Control,” a song that leaked Monday (August 12), which also features Jay Electronica.

“I’m usually homeboys with the same niggas I’m rhymin’ with,” Kendrick Lamar says on the song. “But this is Hip Hop and them niggas should know what time it is. That goes for Jermaine Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale,Pusha T, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean, Jay Electron[ica], Tyler[, the Creator], Mac Miller. I got love for you all but I’m tryin’ to murder you niggas. Trying to make sure your core fans never heard of you niggas [and that] they don’t want to hear not one more noun or verb from you niggas. What is competition? I’m trying to raise the bar high.”

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The line above follows Lamar’s claims that “new” rappers are currently left out of many “debates” he’s heard about.

“I heard the barbershops be in great debates all the time,” Lamar says on the track. “About who’s the best emcee? Kendrick, Jigga and Nas, Eminem, Andre 3000. The rest of y’all new niggas [are] just new niggas. Don’t get involved.”

Another Lamar statement on the song addresses his status in New York and the West Coast, following a remark likely inspired by Tupac Shakur.

“I’m Makaveli’s offspring,” Lamar raps, likely referring to Tupac’s 1996 release as Makaveli, The Don Killuminati (The 7 Day Theory). “I’m the king of New York, king of the Coast, one hand, I juggle them both.”

Lamar’s “king of New York” line was likely inspired by a 2010 selection, “Get Bizy,” which featured Kendrick Lamar, Terrace Martin, Bad Lucc and Kurupt. “I’m important like the pope,” Kurupt says on “Get Bizy.” “I’m the king of New York. I’m live from South Central. I’m a Muslim on pork.” Lamar’s verse on “Control,” which also references his “big homie Kurupt” by name, features the lines from “Get Bizy.” “I’m important like the pope,” Lamar rhymes on the song. “I’m a Muslim on pork.”

Rappers, including Pusha T who was named in the song, began responding to Lamar’s verse on Twitter soon after the song was leaked.

Pitbull is working towards the opening of a charter school in Miami, Florida. The school, Sports Leadership and Management (SLAM), is scheduled to open Saturday (August 17), according to the school’s site.

Pitbull recently spoke about his decision to become involved with education at the 2013 National Charter Schools Conference, where he was a keynote speaker.

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“I can speak from the heart when it comes to charter schools for the simple fact is that teachers have changed my life,” Pitbull told The Washington Post. “I had a second grade teacher that taught me that there is a way out and then I had an eleventh grade teacher who taught me to believe in myself and the talent that we didn’t even understand that we had at the time. So, that’s the same thing I want to do with the kids. Sometimes what happens is that education is no longer sexy. It’s no longer cool. I want to tell them or help put together either curriculum or schools where it does entertain them or engage them. One way or another [I want to] just make it fun again to learn. There’s no way that you can tackle any obstacle or any issue around the world if you’re not educated. My mother always told me that the biggest diseases in the world, the most dangerous, [were] ignorance and greed. That’s why we have to educate. That’s why I fight for it. That’s what I feel is the real revolution.”

Pitbull believes that his upbringing makes him qualified to help students of similar backgrounds in the Miami neighborhood in which he was raised.

“I don’t think you could find a better poster child for the simple fact that I did live it,” he said. “These kids can really relate. I’m not here trying to sell you something. I’m trying to tell you something. The difference is that. I could have a conversation like this with you right now and then go down to the kids from the old neighborhood and have a whole different conversation and they’re gonna understand me…That’s the only way I think that we’re gonna make a difference and make this revolution real, which is already happening.”

Pitbull was also asked to address President Barack Obama’s role in education.

“As far as what Barack Obama has done done on the education side,” Pitbull said, “I wouldn’t lie to you and say that I’ve followed it to that extent. But I can tell you what he’s done around the world. With me traveling around the world since, I would say, about ’06-’07, I saw what America was looked upon as around the world before and now how they’re looking at them. Big difference. He is the epitome, I would say the absolute of all, as a prime example of a person that fought his way through everything to be able to do what he is doing right now and become the first African American president of the United States of America.”

Charter schools are defined by the Florida Department of Education as being “tuition-free public schools created through an agreement or ‘charter’ between the school and the local school board or a state university. This agreement gives the charter school a measure of expanded freedom relative to traditional public schools in return for a commitment to higher standards of accountability. Since 1996, Florida charter schools have played a key role in increasing parental options in public education and providing innovative learning opportunities for students.”

Charter schools have been criticized because resources and students are often taken from public school districts and placed into charter schools, causing what critics view as negative effects to non-charter public institutions. Pitbull was asked about the criticism.

“Critics,” Pitbull said. “They must criticize, I would say. No? But men lie. women lie. Numbers don’t lie. Look at the numbers.”

Pitbull’s school, Sports Leadership and Management (SLAM), is slated to be run by Mater Academy and Academia. Mater Academy is a non-profit organization and Academia is a for-profit company. “The SLAM program is geared toward students who want to attend college and major in a sports-related field,” Mater Academy says on its website. “The tuition-free public charter school will use an innovative curriculum that will embed sports-related content into middle and high school courses and special projects, along with elective classes and guest lecturers.”

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nevitably in the careers of successful rappers is the questioning of whether they are actually from the areas they represent.

Big Sean has been at the butt of claims throughout his career of whether he is actually from a place of struggle in Detroit or not. Recently, in an interview between Detroit native Danny Brown and The Fader, Brown said many people from or who live in Detroit don’t consider him from the area. He also said Sean “Probably was real spoiled or sheltered” as a child.

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Perhaps it was Danny Brown’s comments that sparked Big Sean’s latest retaliation but in an interview with Hip Hop Nation, Sean wanted to make sure listeners heard his latest attempt at confirming he’s been around the poorer area’s of his hometown.

“Fuck whoever talking about Big Sean and don’t know nothing about Detroit or the streets of Detroit,” Sean proclaimed when unprompted during the interview. “I be in there. Matter of fact, not only do I be there and be in the hood, I be helping the hood and giving back to the hood.”

“I’m the only one out of ya’ll rappers or even new rappers who was paying for Thanksgiving dinners last year, buying Christmas gifts,” he continued. “So if you ever talking shit about me like I ain’t be up in the hood, nigga you crazy.”

It’s unclear if Big Sean’s comments were specifically aimed at Brown but his latest rant comes only days after The Fader interview was published.

Listen to the full Big Sean interview with Hip Hop Nation below:

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Concert promoter Empire Entertainment is filing a lawsuit against Gucci, claiming that the rapper did not perform the show they asked for, reports TMZ.

Empire, which says it paid Gucci $22,500 to perform in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 22, claims that prior to the show, a Tennessee nightclub began advertising a Gucci show on the same night. Gucci himself promoted the show on Twitter.

Empire claims it called the rapper’s camp, who told the concert promoter that no Tennessee show would be happening.

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However, Empire claims that Gucci performed for only 15 minutes that night, and quickly departed to go play in Tennessee, after which the rapper came back to the hotel that Empire provided.

Empire is suing for breach of contract and fraud, and wants to be recompensed for the fee, hotel, travel, and promotions for the show.

2013 has been a tumultuous year for Gucci, who was incarcerated in March for assaulting a United States war veteran. A fan in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania also claimed the rapper assaulted him.

In May, Gucci pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault of the veteran, and posted $75,000 bond.

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Jay Z and Damon “Dame” Dash made a fortune together in the 1990s and early 2000s. The Brooklyn-meets-Harlem, New York business partnership made Roc-A-Fella Records and Roc-A-Wear clothing household names (with third partner Kareem “Biggs” Burke). The pair was responsible for movies, international touring, liquor, as well as establishing the musical careers of Kanye West,Beanie Sigel and Juelz Santana.

While Roc-A-Fella remained in tact, Jay Z departed following 2003’s The Black Album to become president of Def Jam Records during a recording hiatus. In the close to a decade since, the two have not appeared together or retained a public business relationship.

That changed last night, when Jay Z (now head of Roc Nation) and Dame (head of DD172/BluRoc Records) were photographed together at mutual friend Chaka’s birthday party. The photos were posted to Instagram.

Pastor Rodney Wills has been fired for attending a Rick Ross concert after nearly four years of service to Mt. Salem Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

“We cannot have our leader supporting people of this world who are tearing down the kingdom of God,” the church’s deacon, Miles Langley said, according toAmericaPreachers.com. “We know that many saints will have mixed opinions from our actions, but this is not how we do things here at Mt. Salem…We cannot have a pastor praising the world one minute then praising the Lord the next. Period.”

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The deacon board voted on Wills’ position Saturday (August 3). When Wills arrived to church Sunday (August 4), he found that his name had been removed from his office door and his parking sign had been taken down.

Langley said that this was the second time Wills was found at a Rap show. Months before, the deacon board reportedly met with Wills after he was seen at a Lil Wayne concert.

Wills was the youngest pastor in Mt. Salem’s history when he was installed at 26 years old. He now holds the record for the shortest term with close to 4 years of service.

Wills isn’t the first to suffer consequences at work in relation to Hip Hop. Last year, it was reported that a teacher was suspended for playing Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love” in a middle school classroom.

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In today’s edition of People Do The Weirdest Things With Their Money, Snoop Lion’s Snoopifyapp’s $99.99 virtual joints have been purchased by 15 people.

The Snoopify app allows users to place virtual stickers on photographs and one of the stickers, called “Golden Jay”, is priced at $99.99.

The recent purchases of Snoop Lion’s Golden Jay have even caught the inventors of the app off guard. Snoop’s brand manager, Nick Adler told The Wall Street Journal he was “shocked” 15 people purchased the premium Golden Jay but reasoned it was because “this is a new world.”

Up-and-coming rap group Da Youngfellaz is being sued in the Manhattan Supreme Court by Stigma Sound, a recording studio located in Manhattan, according to a story on nypost.com. The studio alleges that rappers Johnny Aguiar (stage name Jay Storm) and Brett Officer (stage name Sho-Biz), ran through a $130,000 marketing loan by spending it on drugs, first-class airplane tickets and cross-country trips to entertainment festivals at which the duo were not performing.

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StigmaSound claims in the suit that the independent emcees blew an initial $25,000 loan, meant to advance the group “toward A-level stardom in the entertainment industry,” in just three months. “The defendants used loan money…for illegal purchases of marijuana,” claim the plaintiffs in the case.

Jay Storm and a third defendant, who is listed in the suit as Joseph Aguiar, do not deny that they smoked marijuana. Joseph Aguiar may be the general manager of New Rich Management, based on a Joe Aguiar being listed as such on Da Youngfellaz Facebook page.

The Bronx, New York-based rap group has said that Frank Marquez, owner of the StigmaSound recording studio, was the one providing the weed for them. The New York Post says that the Aguiars showed them a text allegedly from Marquez that reads, “Tell Storm I got the herbals for him and not all them motherfuckers.”

Mita Carriman, Marquez’s attorney, said that their allegations are “100 percent false.”

In addition to spending large sums on weed, the suit claims that about six months and $125,000 later Da Youngfellaz had only promoted one of their songs, a track titled “Incognito.”

Instead of using the loaned funds to promote themselves, the group is said to have spent $14,000 to attend the popular Austin, Texas, music festival SXSW, though they were not going to perform at the event.

According to the suit, Jay Storm wrote a mea culpa, or an acknowledgement of error or fault, for his behavior, to Marquez. Strom wrote, “I APOLOGIZE for all of my insults, and comments, I’ve QUIT smoking, and have been for about a month now, I haven’t told you this, but my body, and my mind are going through it, trying to get off the weed,” in an e-mail attached as an exhibit to the suit.

Da Youngfellaz is signed to New Rich Entertainment and has recorded with Talib Kweli, Snoop Dogg, George Clinton and Nipsey Hussle, according to the group’s website.

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Ja Rule says he spent time in prison doing odd jobs, watering plants, working out, reading and watching the New York Knicks.

Ja Rule recently spoke about his time in prison. The New York rapper also talked about famous inmates he met while incarcerated.

“I was there with [former Tyco International CEO] Dennis Kozlowski, [former New York state comptroller] Alan Hevesi, Larry Salander, the art tycoon,” Ja Rule said of fellow celebrity inmates during an interview with Complex. “They were all good guys. Me and Alan, he’s a Knicks fan like me, so we watched a lot of Knicks together, never missed a game. We talked politics. The election was going on while I was locked up, Obama and Romney so we would talk a lot about that. Hevesi is a Democrat so we were on the same side [Laughs].

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“Dennis, me and him spoke once in awhile; he didn’t really interact too much with a lot of inmates, but me and him spoke,” Rule continued. “Larry, he was really a great guy, painted a couple of pictures of me and stuff. We all in a situation and we really have no choice about the matter, so you make the best of your time. You get to know one another, you become somewhat friendly with the guys. You just do your time.

“In the state [prison] I was in PC [protective custody], but when I got to the Feds I was in population,” he said. “So you get to interact a lot more with a lot of guys that you may know. Spigg Nice from Lost Boyz was in [Federal Correctional Institute] Ray Brook [in Ray Brook, New York]. He was there. He’s doing like 30 years [for a bank-robbery spree]. We kicked it. We ain’t seen each other in a really long time. We had a lot of old stories to talk about. It was cool to see him and some of the other dudes I know from Queens. But I know guys from everywhere, dudes I knew from Boston, dudes I knew from Chicago. There was dudes I knew from Detroit, just from me traveling.”

Ja Rule also spoke about whether he had problems with other inmates while he was serving time in prison.

“Not really at all, which was surprising,” Rule said of beef in jail. “I thought, there’s always at least one out of every group. There’s always one bad seed or one dude that wants to try to be whatever. But it wasn’t like that. It’s kind of high school. You go in, you got your A crowd, you got your B crowd. You got your nerds. You got your jocks. It’s kind of the same way, and as soon as I walked into the joint, I was a part of the A crowd. Shoutout to everybody in Ray Brook, Midstate.”

Rule is now reportedly awaiting the October 2013 release of I’m In Love With a Church Girl, a motion picture he will be starring in. During his time in prison, he served at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York, Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York and Federal Correctional Institute Ray Brook, according to the report. Rule said there was “really not much to do in prison, but work out, read [and] watch TV.” He also said he had a job working in the warden’s office, “doing little odd jobs, sweeping, mopping [and] watering plants.”

Ja Rule was incarcerated following an arrest for weapons possession in 2007. He was also convicted of failing to pay federal taxes in 2011. Rule served close to two years in prison before being released to house arrest.

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Drake addressed rumors of tension between him andYoung Money yesterday (August 6).

“If there was paperwork…if I could write that shit in blood, I would,” Drake told the OVO Fest crowd in Toronto’s Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. “Young Money is forever. Lil Wayne is forever. This man here is the reason you can feel proud as a city. This man right here is the reason for Drake. Make some noise for the best rapper alive.”

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Lil Wayne spoke about the event. “I’m glad to be a piece of this puzzle,” Wayne said to the crowd.

At another point in the show, Drake rapped a variation of Kanye West’s lyrics on “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix).” “Yo, where Wayne at?” Drake said. “Nigga, we both busy. I ain’t gotta explain that.”

This comes after rumors concerning tension within the Young Money camp began circulating. In a report published last week, Nicki Minaj addressed the perceived tension between Drake and YMCMB.

“Peoples’ perception of their reality is their perception of their reality,” Minaj said, when asked aboutDrake’s status with the camp. “Sometimes people make moves based on their perception of what reality is. I know that sounds like a riddle, but maybe one day you’ll be able to unravel that one. All I can say is this, Lil Wayne is everything to me. I can’t speak for anyone else. What Young Money and Cash Money did for Nicki Minaj, I can never repay them for. So, I am forever indebted to them. Whatever happens with any other artist, I don’t know.

“[Drake’s] so talented,” she continued. “Sometimes, we’ve seen this. Sometimes when you’re really intelligent and you’re really talented, you also think a lot. Sometimes your mind is racing with thoughts. It is what it is. People go through their own motions and you’ve gotta respect it and keep it moving. We all love the team. We all love Wayne. That’s what’s gonna always hold us together. Drake is my baby because that’s how it was when we came in. So whenever I think of him, ‘That’s my baby.’ Whatever is going on now, obviously we’re all very busy and you know, shit happens. It gets a little hard to have a real connection when people are on different sides of the world, working on different things. You just never know who people got in their ear or what they’re feeling or maybe they felt wronged in some way. I don’t know. I just know that Drake is my baby and Wayne is my everything.”

During his performance at OVO Fest 2013, Lil Wayne was accompanied by YMCMB president Mack Maine. Other stars also performed with Drake at the event, including Kanye West, Diddy, Ma$e and several other guests.

 

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50 Cent is to be arraigned in court today for domestic violence and vandalism charges. The G-Unit leader is being accused by the mother of his child of attacking her and destroying $7,100 worth of property. Daphne Joy claims that 50 (born Curtis Jackson) trashed her Toluca Lake, California condo and then kicked her as she tried to hide in the bathroom.

In July, 50 issued a statement through his lawyer denying the accusations.”Curtis Jackson denies these allegations as made against him. It is important to note, Mr. Jackson has not been arrested and there is no warrant outstanding for his arrest.”

50 faces up to five years in prison and $46,000 in fines if convicted.

Fat Joe explains the origins of his current legal troubles and talks about the peacemaking process with the G-Unit founder, says “I have no beef, no ill feelings, no nothing with 50 Cent.”

As reported in June, Bronx emcee and D.I.T.C. memberFat Joe has been sentenced to four months in prison for the tax evasion he committed over a period of two years and pled guilty of last December. Today (August 5), Fat Joe visited The Breakfast Club and talked about the source of his legal troubles, as well as his prison sentence.

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Joe said that his longtime accountant retired on short notice after a family tragedy. Regarding his new accountant and the news of his unpaid bills and taxes, Fat Joe said, “He took over my stuff…I had the guy paying all my bills, so I’m wiring him money every month to pay all my bills, my taxes. I’m asking him if everything is alright. He said, ‘It’s cool,’ this and that, right. He’s doing everything. So one day I go get a car and then I went to get my credit report…so the guy was like, ‘Yo, you sitting down?’ I thought he was joking. He was like, ‘Yo, this shows here that none of your mortgages is paid. None of your cars is paid. None of this.’ So this is how I found out. So I called [my accountant] up and..the next day he paid everything off.”

Given that his period of nonpayment of taxes lasted for two years, Fat Joe and another new accountant eventually approached the IRS themselves. The IRS told him, “‘You still owe 60 [thousand],’” Fat Joe said. “So I wrote a check right quick for the $60,000.”

The Terror Squad CEO and founding member said that before penalties, he “wound up spending like [$1.2 million] in the end. And I’m not Jay Z or none of that. And penalties was on top of that. After you pay them off, they hit you with, ‘Surprise!’”

The repayment and penalty fees are obviously not the end of the ordeal, as Fat Joe reconfirmed his four-month prison bid, for which he will report August 26. Despite his upcoming sentence and the large sum he’s paid back, Joe was also in good spirits and found light in the situation. “In the words of Chris Gotti, my good friend, it could be worse,” he said.

Fat Joe is only the latest in a string of rappers to face jail time for tax evasion. Lauryn Hill began her three month prison sentence in Connecticut last month for nonpayment of $1 million and Ja Rule completed a two-year sentence for a gun charge, only to be held longer for an unrelated tax evasion charge earlier this year.

While on the show, Fat Joe also talked about feeling underappreciated by a current crop of emcees and fans for his previous contributions, the mentorship role he played for many artists and his alleged involvement in an altercation with Jay Z alongside Big Pun.

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The legal troubles for teenage rapper Chief Keef seem to keeping mounting. The latest matter is going to cost him $230,019 for damages, loss of earnings, and reputational harm for missing out on a performance.

TMZ reports that the Team Major concert promotion company sued Keef in March for not appearing at a booked show in London on December 29, 2012. This was just 2 weeks before Keef was taken into custody for parole violation on January 15, 2013. He served a 60-day sentence in a juvenile detention center for the charge.

Apparently, Keef never responded to the Team Major lawsuit, and a judge ruled in their favor by default.

The state of Louisiana allowed TRU member C-Murder to leave his life sentence in prison to pay respects to his late grandmother.

Founding TRU/504 Boyz member and platinum solo emcee C-Murder has been incarcerated since 2009,serving a life sentence for a second-degree murder conviction, stemming from a 2003 nightclub incident. Held in Louisiana State Penitentiary, C-Murder was released this past weekend to attend his grandmother’s funeral.

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C-Murder, who is a brother to former No Limit Records’ Silkk Tha Shocker and Master P, joined his family at the event. Nephew Romeo (who currently is an executive and artist at the label), was photographed with his uncle, born Corey Miller (who was forced to remain in his orange prison suit and in handcuffs).Romeo spoke of the event on Instagram. “Being able to just sit & have a conversation w/my uncle @iamcmurder was a blessing. We gonna get you home Uncle C! Love ya #bestmoment #ripbigmamma.”

 

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