Author: hhns

Kriss Kross rapper Chris Kelly ( Mac Daddy) death was the result of a drug overdose according a toxicology screening. Kelly passed away on May 1 at the Atlanta Medical Center after he was found unconscious in his home.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office reported on Monday that Kelly had a mixture of drugs in his system, but they were not able to determine exactly which drugs the 34-year-old had taken prior to his death.

Chris Kelly has passed away on May 1. To millions of fans worldwide, he was the trendsetting, backwards pants-wearing one-half of Kris Kross who loved making music. But to us, he was just Chris—the kind, generous and fun-loving life of the party. Though he was only with us a short time, we feel blessed to have been able to share some incredible moments with him. His legacy will live on through his music, and we will forever love him.”

What happens when the name of two superstar producers’ respective companies include two of the same words? A legal battle of course. Reports began to circulate last week that The Black Eye Peas frontman will.i.am is suing Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes for copyright infringement.

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Just days after will.i.am filed a notice of opposition over Pharrell’s i am OTHER creative venture, Pharrell has filed a lawsuit of his own.

TMZ reports that will.i.am sent Skateboard P a cease and desist letter informing P that he owns everything with a right to “I Am.” In response, Pharrell appears to be suing will.i.am to prevent him from suing the Neptunes member.

In the suit, Pharrell argues that his use of “I Am” differs completely from will.i.am’s use, in that the Black Eyed Peas frontman’s use is akin to Dr. Suess’ use in the beloved children’s book “Green Eggs and Ham,” which features a character named Sam I Am.

His suit goes on to say that his use of the phrase “I am” is in a completely different context.

“In contrast, the I Am Other mark means ‘I am something else,’ leaving what that ‘else’ is to the imagination of the consumer. It certainly does not mean ‘I am Will.’”

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Ace Hood probably wanted people to look at his watch. But the Florida rapper likely didn’t want his timepiece to garner the type of attention it did on Sunday (June 30).

When Ace Hood touched his timepiece while being interviewed by Bow Wow on the red carpet at the 2013 BET Awards, the bezel fell off. The rapper says he was stunned. “When you spend so much money on a watch, certain things are not supposed to happen,” Ace Hood says during an interview with Los Angeles radio station Power 106. “My jeweler, I definitely had to fire the jeweler. He going through it, man.”

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The “Bugatti” rapper says during the Power 106 interview that he couldn’t believe what was happening while he was talking to Bow Wow, especially given how much the timepiece cost. “I spent $60,000 on that watch, man,” Ace Hood says. “I was just as shocked as everybody else was when it did happen. It never happened to any of my other watches or anything. I looked up. I ain’t even know what it was. I figured it was my bracelet. It wasn’t no thing, though.”

As he was realizing what was happening on the red carpet, Ace Hood says he had a conversation with himself regarding his watch. “For it to happen right then in that moment, I was like, ‘You could have happened anywhere else. I just performed. I just ripped down the stage, everything. But you chose to let it be there,'” Ace Hood says. “That’s how I know the Devil be working.”

Even though Ace Hood says he knows people were making fun of him because of the incident, he says it just makes for a good story. “It’s no biggie to me,” says Ace Hood, whose Trials & Tribulationsalbum is slated for a July 16 release date. “It ain’t even that serious…Things happen, man. We all got stories…This’ll be a story that we’ll always remember forever.”

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2 Chainz’ “Feds Watching” video debuted right after Sunday night’s BET Awards, and it’s follows the luxury rap music video formula with one notable twist.

In the song, 2 Chainz raps about sporting Commes des Garcons and Alexander Wang clothing because “if the Fed’s watching,” he’d like to be “fresh as hell.” (It turns out, of course, that they are watching.) The visuals for the song are appropriately lavish, wish most of the action taking place in a Los Angeles mansion perched above the city. An impeccably styled Mr. Chainz is surrounded by pretty ladies, another familiar rap trope.

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But it’s the women who are featured that gained 2 Chainz a bevy of supportive tweets as soon as the video premiered. Rap music videos often feature light-skinned black women, a move that has lead to cries of prejudice. In the video for “Feds Watching,” most of the women are dark-skinned. See below:

@2chainz 
Tity Boi (2 Chainz)

RT @MS_URIV: Beauty is in the heart mind and soul I think@2chainz just projected that in #Fedwatching video Love it!

July 1, 2013 4:49 am via Echofon Reply Retweet Favorite

@2chainz 
Tity Boi (2 Chainz)

RT @LoveLei_Marie: I’m glad @2chainz put more beautiful black women in his video instead of the typical chicks we normally see in videos

July 1, 2013 4:35 am via Echofon Reply Retweet Favorite

@2chainz 
Tity Boi (2 Chainz)

RT @VIOD_S: Did @2chainz just do what I think he did! Did you just tell the whole industry to go fuck themselves with the beauty standards.…

July 1, 2013 4:33 am via Echofon Reply Retweet Favorite

@2chainz 
Tity Boi (2 Chainz)

RT @MaRtY_BooM: Thank u again @2chainz for the beautiful black women in the video #longoverdue

July 1, 2013 4:23 am via Echofon Reply Retweet Favorite

@2chainz 
Tity Boi (2 Chainz)

RT @TrillPickles: @2chainz thank you for portraying another image of beauty, verses the typical “video girl” image … for that alone I’m b…

July 1, 2013 4:15 am via Echofon Reply Retweet Favorite

Another recent video to include dark-skinned women is Kendrick Lamar’s clip for “Poetic Justice,” which features Drake.

“Feds Watching” is the first single off 2 Chainz’ upcoming sophomore album

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Jermaine Dupri’s financial woes continue to dog him, this time in the form of Uncle Sam.

Jermaine Dupri owes a significant chunk of change to the U.S. Government.

Just days after Lauryn Hill wrote a manifesto on Tumblr decrying the IRS, the government agency imposed two tax liens on the So So Def head, totalling nearly $800,000, reports TMZ.

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The figure comes from unpaid taxes from the years 2008, 2010, and 2011.

In 2008, Dupri didn’t pay $646.47; in 2010, $140,889.76; in 2011, $657,156.12. The total comes out to $798,692.35.

Dupri recently paid off a $3 million tax lien for unpaid taxes in 2006. Before that, he paid $500,000 to the state of Georgia for unpaid taxes. In 2011, the producer was sued for unpaid child support, and narrowly avoided foreclosure on his Atlanta, Georgia mansion.

It should be noted that in 2009, Dupri was videotaped with Nelly and NFL Player Adam “Pacman” Jones at a Las Vegas Strip club. When asked about the night, which included Jones and Nelly throwing thousands of one-dollar bills in the air, Dupri replied, “A lot of y’all comment on how stupid it is. It might be stupid to you, but this is what we do. We eat, we kick it, we throw money. Don’t make this one situation blow the whole thing out.”

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The Reverend Al Sharpton and Cash Money agree to a book deal for Sharpton’s “The Rejected Stone.”

Many were shocked when Birdman signed singer Paris Hilton to a recording deal. Don’t look now, but one may be even more surprised about the move Cash Money just made.

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Music isn’t the only aspect of the YMCMB empire, the major record label has now agreed to a book deal with civil rights activist and television host Reverend Al Sharpton.

Sharpton told The Associated Press on Thursday that the book, titled The Reject Stone, would include his thoughts on Lil Wayne and other rappers and that he was anxious to have a positive dialogue.

Ironically, Wayne and Sharpton have had disagreements over the years including one over the use of the b-word and n-word in the rap lyrics. Weezy would later refer to Rev. Sharpton as Don King with a perm.

The Reject Stone is due out on October 8 and will track Sharpton’s progress from “personal evolution” to New York street activist to political candidate, civil rights spokesman and television host.

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A jewelry store in Texas has filed a lawsuit against Maybach Music Group’s leader Rock Ross according to TMZ. Johnny’s Custom Jewelry is claiming that Ross has failed to pay a $89,847.50 tab for three diamond Rolexes. The Houston location is also asking for interest since the merchandise was delivered in August of 2012.

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Johnny’s Custom Jewelry’s website boasts that the company has a celebrity clientele that includes famous rappers, singers, athletes, and television personalities. There are no specific celebrities listed on the site as customers, but the site’s header currently features images of Flo Rida, Nelly, and even Rick Ross.

Ross has been associated with Johnny’s in the past. There is video of Ross at Johnny’s Custom Jewelry in 2010, and he held an album signing event at the shop in August of last year. In footage of the 2012 appearance, Ross acknowledges being a fan of owner King Johnny and his brand.

“Shout out King Johnny’s for real. I’ve been f*cking with these boys from day one,” says Ross. “They gonna make a lot of custom pieces for me.”

The only evidence that has been made public in the present case is a photo of a bill that names Ross and Maybach Music Group as purchasers. The pic also shows a balance due for a $55,000 8K gold watch, a $14,000 8K gold watch, and a $14,000 two-tone watch.

Rick Ross has yet to make a public statement about the lawsuit.

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Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco was in his hometown over the weekend, to inspire hundreds of young black males who graduated from high school.

The rapper appeared at the “2013 Mass Black Male Graduation and Transition to Manhood” ceremony.

The event was held yesterday (June 29), at Chicago State University.

Lupe Fiasco was on hand to help recognize the African-American males from Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, for graduating from high school.

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According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Lupe did not mince his words to the young graduates.

“Congratulations, you have graduated from one of the most terrible, substandard school systems in the entire world,” Lupe Fiasco told the teens. “You have just spent the last 12 years receiving one of the worst educations on earth. You are at least four, five steps behind people in other countries that are younger than you.”

The rapper’s comments were not off-base, since Chicago’s Public school system has the highest dropout rate for Black males.

According to stats, 1 in 8 students drop out of the CPS system, while only 3 out of 100 will continue their education to receive a Bachelor’s degree.

Lupe, who also donated $100 to each of the 150 graduates who attended the ceremony, stressed the importance of the young males’ manhood.

“For young black men, it is one the last things that we have and one of the last things that we can control,” Lupe Fiasco said. “Manhood is connected to humanity.”

Saturday’s ceremony was sponsored by the Black Star Project, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the continuing education of Black males.

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Jay-Z takes aim at Lil Wayne, and says he’s “ready for that war.”

Jay-Z keeps the headlines coming, as the latest lyrics revealed from his upcoming Magna Carta Holy Grailserve as a diss towards Lil Wayne.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s track “H.A.M.,” where Jay raps, “I’m like, ‘Really, half-a-billi?’ / Nigga, really, you got baby money / Keep it real with niggas, niggas ain’t got my lady money,” Wayne took the bars as a diss towards Cash Money head honcho Birdman, a/k/a Baby.

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In response, Wayne dropped “I’m Good” on Tha Carter IV, rhyming, “I got your baby money / Kidnap your bitch, get that how much you love your lady money.”

Though both verses dropped in 2011, it appears Jay-Z hasn’t forgotten about the bars aimed at his wife, Beyonce.

“Wanna kidnap wifey / Good luck with that bruh / You must gonna hide your whole family / What you think we wearing black for / Ready for that war / Ready for that war ready / You ain’t ready, yo, you radio,” spits Jay.

The two emcee’s history of subliminals began in 2009, in an interview where Birdman claimed Wayne was both more lyrical and made more money than Hov. Jay brushed off the notion in an interview with Angie Martinez on Hot 97. Later, at a pre-Grammy party in 2012, Wayne spit a few bars dissing Jay-Z and Kanye West’s group, The Throne.

It was also heavily speculated that Jay-Z’s verse on “Watch What You Say to Me,” a track from T.I.’s 2007 release T.I. vs. T.I.P. contained subliminals aimed at Wayne, but was never confirmed.

So far, Jay has dropped lyrics to “BBC,” featuring Nas, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Swizz Beatz, and Timbaland, “Part II (On the Run),” featuring Beyonce, as well as others.

Magna Carta Holy Grail hits shelves July 4, save one million Samsung Galaxy smartphone users, who will get the album for free via app.

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When an artist receives a dozen award show nominations that is usually a guarantee that the audience will get to see that person at the event. That was not the case for Drake who was nominated 12 times at this year’s BET Awards.

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While most of the stars arriving on the red carpet were not even sure who was scheduled to perform at the show, there was talk that Drake had planned to attend and perform, but when the lights went up the Young Money rapper was not at the Nokia Theatre.

Rumors began to circulate that Drake pulled out of the show at the last-minute because the “Started From The Bottom” performer wanted to avoid R&B singer Chris Brown. Brown and Drake have had a very public feud over the last year after the two were engaged in a bottle throwing incident at a New York City night club.

Drake took to Twitter to clear up the matter. He announced that his absence from the awards show was the result of him wanting to focus on his music and his family.

Drizzy        ✔ @Drake

Radaronline reportedly had sources reveal that Drake’s decision not to attend threw off the show with producers scrambling to figure out how to replace him.

“Everything is in flux,” claimed Radaronline’s source. “The producers are all pulling their hair out.”

There were obvious moments during the broadcast when the show’s host Chris Tucker had to fill in time with him even asking producers on camera if they were ready to move on. Representatives from BET have not commented on the record about Drake not attending the show as of yet.

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In a revealing interview about his work on Yeezus, Rick Rubin shared that there “might” be a sequel to Kanye West‘s album.

“Initially, [Kanye] thought there were going to be 16 songs on the album,” Rubin revealed to The Daily Beast. “But that first day, before he even asked me to work on it, I said, ‘Maybe you should make it more concise. Maybe this is two albums. Maybe this is just the first half.’ That was one of the first breakthroughs. Kanye was like, ‘That’s what I came here today to hear! It could be 10 songs!'”

If Kanye decides to release Yeezus‘ sequel this year it would not be the first time this year that a major artist split a large collection of songs into two albums. Justin Timberlake announced that  he will release his 20/20 Experience sequel on September 30th, 6 months after the 1st volume

Since his 2009 return following a 5 year sabbatical, Eminem has been excruciatingly honest about his drug addiction which resulted in a 2007 overdose.

In the new documentary How To Make Money Selling Drug, Eminem delves deeper into having to regain motor and talking skills during recovery

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The Recovery rapper, who confessed to consuming close to 20 Vicodin, Ambien and Valium pills in the span of one day in a 2009 interview with Vibe magazine, touched on the moment he was first introduced to Vicodin and the mellowness that followed.

“When I took my first Vicodin, it was like this feeling of ‘ahh.’ Like everything was not only mellow, but didn’t feel any pain,” Eminem revealed. “It just kind of numbed things…I don’t know at what point exactly it started to be a problem. I just remember liking it more and more. People tried to tell me that I had a problem. I would say, ‘Get that fuckin person outta here. I can’t believe they said that shit to me.’ They knew nothing about my fuckin life. Are they out of their fuckin mind? I’m not out there shooting heroine. I’m not fucking out there putting coke up my nose. I’m not smoking crack.”

“Had I have got to the hospital about two hours later, I would have died. My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything. They were gonna have to put me on dialysis. They didn’t think I was gonna make it. My bottom was gonna be death,” said the rapper.

How To Make Money Selling Drugs was released in the United States on April 25 by Bert Marcus Productions, and includes appearances from 50 Cent, Russell Simmons, Freeway Ricky Ross, and more.

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Tech N9ne says that he’s similar to the character Dracula because he has seen other artists come and go during his career,

“He’s supposed to be immortal. He’s been here for centuries. It seems like in the Hip Hop game, I feel like Dracula because I’ve been here for the rise and fall of a lot of major emcees and I’m still on the incline. It feels like every time I look in the mirror, every year I get older, but I’ve started looking like I’m in my 20s. They call me ‘Alucard,’ Dracula backwards because it’s like I’ll be here [forever]. Since I’ve been rapping, I’ve seen so many emcees come and go and I’ve been rapping just as long and I keep on having new life every time I do an album. Why wouldn’t I feel immortal? “

Will.I.am wants the world to know he is not suing Pharrell.

the alleged lawsuit centered around Will.i.am’s supposed copyright of  ”i.am”. However, his personal website will.i.am  only states he has a trademark over  ”will.i.am, #willpower, the #willpower logo and variations.”

will.i.am        ✔ @iamwill

Labelmates will.i.am and Pharrell Williams have found themselves in a legal debacle due to the name of Pharrell’s newest creative venture, i am OTHER.

the Black Eyed Peas frontman felt that the name i am OTHER is entirely too similar to the “I AM” branding he uses and went on to file a notice of opposition against Pharrell and his creative brand, stating that i am OTHER “is likely to dilute the I AM mark and the WILL.I.AM mark.”

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Lawyers for Pharrell and “i am OTHER” filed an answer to Will.i.am’s notice of opposition, denying all such claims.

“I am disappointed that Will, a fellow artist, would file a case against me,” Pharrell says in a statement to RS. “I am someone who likes to talk things out and, in fact, I attempted to do just that on many occasions. I am surprised in how this is being handled and I am confident that Will’s trademark claims will ultimately be found to be as meritless and ridiculous as I do.”

Representatives for Will.i.am had not responded to a request for comment at press time.

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