hiphopmusic.com:

Hey Irina, is this dude singing about you or what?

Who authorized this?

Lil Wayne Cast In Katrina Movie "Patriots"
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"Lollipop" rapper Lil' Wayne has been added to the cast of director Tim Story's upcoming film "The Patriots."

Forest Whitaker stars as a high school basketball coach whose team consisted of players hailing from five different schools that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Lil' Wayne plays the character Lamont, a student at Al Collins High School who is a skeptic of the newly-assembled team. The movie from the Weinstein Co. began filming in New Orleans this week.

Papoose weighs in on the Sean Bell verdict: link here

via Nah Right

People often complain about hip-hop not showing up for things like this, but rap citizens have stepped up in a variety of ways on this one. Not that any rap philanthropy is enough to bring solace or justice here.

Jay-Z Sets Up Trust Fund for Sean Bell Children
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Rapper Jay-Z has established an education trust fund for the children of Sean Bell - the man who was shot and killed by New York police on the day of his wedding, according to reports from AllHipHop.

The Hip-Hop mogul, born Shawn Carter, has close ties to the case, as ads from his "I Will Not Lose" Rocawear campaign featured the children's mother, Nicole Paultre-Bell, who married her fiance posthumously. The woman's participation in the ad sparked outrage and accusations of trial tampering.

A source close to the matter told AllHipHop that the process of setting up the fund began before the trial that recently acquitted three NYPD detectives on all charges related to the death. Activity was suspended during the trial and has now resumed.

The stock-based fund will mature when Jada, 5, and Jordan, 1, become adults.

Innnteresting, I've been wondering why Oprah didn't speak out on this issue, having read she was a member.

Why Oprah Winfrey left Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church.
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For any spiritually minded, up-wardly mobile African-American living in Chicago in the mid-1980s, the Trinity United Church of Christ was—and still is—the place to be. That's what drew Oprah Winfrey, a recent Chicago transplant, to the church in 1984. She was eager to bond with the movers and shakers in her new hometown's black community. But she also admired Trinity United's ambitious outreach work with the poor, and she took pride in upholding her Southern grandmother's legacy of involvement with traditional African-American houses of worship. Winfrey was a member of Trinity United from 1984 to 1986, and she continued to attend off and on into the early to the mid-1990s. But then she stopped. A major reason—but by no means the only reason—was the Rev. Jeremiah Wright...

Kinda random but I'm not gonna knock Nas for this, I've always liked Yoko (she is WBAI fam!).

Nas Thanks Yoko Ono For 'Breaking Up The Beatles'

Outspoken rapper Nas has applauded Yoko Ono for reportedly splitting up The Beatles - because she helped John Lennon develop his solo career.

The "I Can" hitmaker is a big fan of Lennon's music and believes he would not have penned classic songs had he still been a member of the Fab Four.

And he credits Lennon's partner, Ono, for giving her man the courage to go solo.

Going against popular public opinion, Nas says, "How could you not love Yoko...? She gave us "Give Peace A Chance," "Imagine." When John Lennon left the Beatles, he was able to do that shit."

Nas tells the new issue of King magazine that Ono and Lennon are among his heroes, together with Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Bob Dylan.

From the Yemen Times.. they seem to be using "hip-hop" as a label for the dance element, and "rap" for the music:

Hip-hop comes Alive in Yemen

new art – Yemeni hip-hop – was celebrated at the French Cultural Institute in the second part of an ongoing hip-hop series featuring a rap performance by Yemeni-American artist Hagag AJ and a new work tailor-made by French choreographer Farid Berki for a group of young Yemeni dancers along with professional break dancers Ludo and Romu...

...Rapper Hagag AJ performed one of his songs prior to the dance portion of the show, while attendees clapped and shouted praises with gusto. The group of approximately 20 dancers spent a week training with Berki, who flew in from France especially for the event...

...Participating dancer Saif Al-Thamin, a 22-year-old Jordanian who lives in Sana’a, pointed out that although his family is conservative, they understand that hip-hop dancing is an acceptable pastime and gave their approval when he began doing it three years ago.

“They know hip-hop is like football, basketball or any other sport,” he said, “I do hip-hop as an amateur, benefiting from it by improving my physical fitness. I especially enjoy doing acrobatic movements and spinning on the ground.”

Dancer Ludo, whose real name is Brizolier Romuald, began in a similar way to many of the Yemeni youths who participated in the workshop. “I attended a hip-hop event when I was 15 as one of the audience and a year later, I actually started doing it,” he explained.

He praised Yemeni hip-hop dancers as interested, kind and focused, and believes the medium has a future here. “Although hip-hop is a worldwide dance, every country has its own particular style when dancing it,” he noted, adding, “Hip-hop doesn’t cancel out other cultures; on the contrary, it adds to them...”

...Berki likewise wants to ensure that the Yemeni dancers will get to practice and hone the lessons they learned during their week of rehearsals, commenting, “I hope they’ll have places to work because this culture – and for me, hip-hop is a culture – is a way to live, to respect others, to grow and give others what you know...

Out of all the things Soulja Boy could do for a new video, I would think writing out his lyrics on the screen might not be the best choice? I guess he really does believe he's saying something..

Not exactly on James Lipton status here, but some chatting about the new album..

Would be great to see this open up some discussion and thought on the issue, just hope it doesn't lead us down the same old gossipy "who's the gay rapper?!??1?" path.. the tone of coverage so far, focusing on "secrets" being "exposed" etc, makes me worry a bit:

Gays In Hip-Hop Exposed, New Memoir Tells All
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Following in the footsteps of Karrine Steffans, former MTV producer Terrence Dean has written a memoir unmasking the secret gay culture in the world of hip-hop.

Hiding in Hip- Hop documents his encounters with some of hip-hop's biggest names as well as his own tumultuous upbringing. Raised by his grandmother, Dean lost his mother, [a drug-addicted prostitute] and both of his younger brothers to the AIDS virus.

Unlike Steffans, Dean protects the identities of those mentioned in Hiding in Hip Hop. As to why, Dean said, "I have no desire to ruin anyone's dreams or careers. That's not why I'm writing this book. What I'm truly hoping for is the start of a real conversation about why, in this very contemporary day and age, we as black people are still made to feel that we cannot be comfortable in our skin?"

I'm not going to take any pleasure in seeing violence perpetrated against anybody. Not at all. So uhh, yeah. No further comment.

Suge Knight Knocked Out
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Rap impresario Suge Knight refused to file a police report or cooperate with police after being knocked out outside a Los Angeles night club, TMZ.com reports.

The entertainment news Web site said Knight got into an argument with another man, and then he and his companions allegedly knocked the other man to the ground. The man allegedly landed a blow on Knight's face that made him unconscious for about three minutes.

"I want my money," Knight was overheard saying to the man.

The altercation took place Saturday night outside Shag nightclub.

His companions put Knight into an sports utility vehicle. A woman at the wheel tried to drive away but was removed from the vehicle after she hit a parked car and then reversed into another one. Another driver then took over.

Pictures here.

This Just in:

Fox News Now Officially Shocked By Everything That Was Ever Said By Any Black Preacher Anywhere
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The Reverend Jeremiah Wright may have stepped down as pastor, but the Trinity United Church of Christ may continue to haunt Barack Obama.

Newsmax reports the new Senior Pastor, Otis Moss, has called biblical patriarch Abraham a pimp, said Noah and Moses were thugs and said Jesus had a "soft spot for thugs." Moss has also praised late rapper Tupac Shakur as a prophet despite his profanity-laced lyrics that glorify violence and a criminal record including assault and sexual abuse.

Cybercast News reports another pastor as the church, reverend Reginald Williams, has written in the church bulletin that the Pentagon trains Latin Americans to become terrorists and the major TV networks are run by right wing racists who see blacks as subhuman...

If I were Fox News I'd be mad about that last part too.. "hey that's not every network, that's our thing that we invented!"

So sad. She may have no one to blame but herself, but still sad to see.

Remy Ma 8 Years in Prison
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Remy Ma has been sentenced to eight years in prison in the shooting a woman outside a Manhattan nightclub.

The state Supreme Court sentence was handed Tuesday to the 26-year-old rapper, whose real name is Remy Smith, for assault, weapon possession and attempted coercion.

Remy Ma, who could have faced up to 25 years in prison, was teary-eyed as she heard the sentence.

She says last summer's shooting was an accident; an appeal is planned.

Nate Dogg is NOT DEAD. The internet is going nuts with this rumor today, but the source of the story, the ever-unreliable mediatakeout.com, has now retracted it.

BREAKING NEWS: RAPPER NATE DOGG DID NOT PASS AWAY!!!

May 13, 2008. The perenially unreliable MediaTakeOut.com received reports earlier today that rapper Nate Dogg died. Well it turns out it was just a nasty hoax. We recahed out to Nate's people who told us that he's "alive and doing fine."

Thanks, thanks a lot. but maybe we can try confirming the rumor BEFORE we publish it, next time? Best wishes to Nate Dogg in his continued recovery.

Partly inspired by this post. May return to that thought later.

John Edwards endorses Obama in Michigan. Interesting timing. I'm glad he started with kind words for Hillary.

John Edwards endorsed Sen. Barack Obama tonight at Obama's event in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

When I talk about that corporate world I also mean the hip-hop cops, the prison industrial complex and every other institution that benefits from us f**king up..