hiphopmusic.com:

Some Turkish graffiti I came by during my trip to Istanbul, Turkey last month:

Turkish Graffiti in Istanbul

Here's some video I caught at the 10th Anniversary of DJ Eclipse's famous Halftime Show on WNYU, with DJ Premier, Marco Polo and Alchemist on hand providing beats:

Masta Ace, Craig G and Andre the Giant

Supastition, Reef the Lost Cauze and AG

Apathy, Torae and Emilio Rojas

"or an animation/a cartoon of me"

Snoop Dogg's about to return to TV with a new animated cartoon show on Comedy Central. No word yet on the title, or whether a talk box is involved.

"the cable network has ordered pilots or presentations of projects starring a range of talent, including an animated comedy with Snoop Dogg, a sketch show starring Andy Richter and a fake-magazine show featuring David Alan Grier."

Untitled Snoop Dogg
Half-hour animated comedy featuring Snoop Dogg as a 15-year-old growing up in 1980s Long Beach; from Snoop Dogg and Tom Lynch

My frivolous contribution to the Ashley Dupre phenomenon. For a more useful take on the matter go here and here.

Now that her song "What We Want" is getting millions of plays online and on the radio (and getting remixed by bloggers of low moral fibre), there's lot's of debate over whether Ashley Alexandra Dupre can get a record deal and have a future in the music/entertainment business.

So much of the discussion is in the form of moralistic outrage towards Ashley Alexandra Dupre and anyone who might seek to capitalize on her scandal by giving out a record deal.. and coming from the music industry all this judgmental hand-wringing strikes me as absurd. All the judgement and scorn heaped upon Ashley Alexandra Dupre speak more to our strange relationship with wealth/fame, sex/sexuality, and gender than it does her issues or morality. To paraphrase Tracy Morgan, my subtle and complicated theory on why Ashley Dupre getting so much hate goes as follows: "WE ARE A SEXIST COUNTRY. THE END."

I don't think getting a record deal will heal all wounds for her, but if Ashley Dupre wants to play the game these industry people laid out for everybody and make the most out of her 15 minutes, more power to her.

Feeling sick so I can't go into as much depth as I'd like. But here are the links to the Smoking Gun expose and the hiphopdx piece that totally saw it coming. Also the 1999 feature on James "Jimmy" Sabatini that's awfully hard to reconcile with Chuck Philips' account. (Although that old piece also cites an anonymous source, some guy named Max.. could it be...? Nah, nevermind)

The LA Times posted an apology late last night, but I still want answers on how this happened in the first place.. Chuck Philips reiterates that he had numerous sources corroborating the general facts on the Tupac case, but never specifically says that other sources verified James "Jimmy" Sabatino's role in the incident, or that he even sought music biz sources to verify that Jimmy Sabatino worked with Bad Boy etc.. until Chuck Philips gives specific evidence to the contrary I've got to assume that Sabatino was also his prime anonymous source and he failed to fact check James "Jimmy" Sabatino's delusions. And yes, this whole thing is looking hella Templeton.