Drums - 01:22.AM

Tuesday.July.22.2008

DMX has been arrested and slapped with a felony charge of taking the identity of another at a Phoenix mall. The rapper was arrested (July 19) in a Phoenix mall, due to an alleged incident at the Scottsdale Mayo clinic in April where the rapper was being treated for an illness. While there, he allegedly used an alias, “Troy Jones,” and defaulted on a $7,500 bill. DMX, real name Earl Simmons, was booked at the Maricopa County jail. The arrest marks X’s fourth bust in two months, on charges that range from alleged illicit drug use to warrants for not appearing in court. At press time, a bond has not been given in DMX’s case, and his lawyer Cameron Morgan has declined to comment.

Reps for DMC have confirmed to that the rapper was admitted to a New Jersey hospital on Thursday July 18. DMC, age 44, arrived complaining of severe pain and swelling in his left arm. Management for DMC told AllHipHop.com that the rapper started experiencing pain in his left arm as early as last Sunday. After two days of suffering, the DMC’s arm became noticeably swollen, resulting the rapper seeing a doctor, who diagnosed two dangerous blood clots in the rapper’s arm. When blood thinning medication did not work, doctors decided that surgery was the best option to reduce the swelling in DMC’s arm and to prevent the clot from moving any further. "DMC's surgery yesterday to remove the blood clots in his left arm was successful," DMC's manager stated "I had the opportunity to visit with him last night at the hospital. He was resting comfortably and is on his way to a full recovery. We want to thank everyone for all their prayers and get-well wishes. He's grateful to have so many wonderful fans and friends out there who care about him."
Drums - 09:25.AM

Wednesday.July.09.2008

EA Sports selected Braille's song "The IV" to use in the trailer for their video game "NBA Live 09" coming out this fall. The trailer showcases the athlete who will be featured on the cover of the game, Tony Parker from the San Antonio Spurs. The song comes from Braille's forth solo record "The IV Edition" available now on Syntax/Koch. The video game placement adds another highlight to what has already been an incredible summer for Braille. After his record dropped on April 15th he received great reviews from The Source, Okayplayer. com, Rapreviews. com, Sphereofhiphop. com and many more. He also did a 3 month U.S. tour which included album release parties with Pigeon John, The Paid Dues festival in Denver with De La Soul and performances on Vans Warped Tour with Othello.

Rapper Bushwick Bill, a member of the controversial, legendary Southern rap group The Geto Boys, is set to release his sixth solo album, with an unexpected twist. Testimony of Redemption, which Bushwick hopes to release later this year, will be his first foray into Gospel Rap. The new album is mostly autobiographical and confessional in nature, with Bushwick apologizing for his past misogynistic lyrics on “Praise of a Good Woman” and owning up to his wild past on “Renewed Mind,” which borrows the same Isaac Hayes sample as the Geto Boys’ classic “Mind Playing Tricks On Me.” This new direction is not quite as surprising as many would believe. Bushwick Bill’s career in Hip-Hop, which has spanned over two decades, has been overshadowed by his often troubled personal life. But prior to entering the world of entertainment, the Jamaican-born artist, real name Richard Shaw, was a student of Theology, fully intent on becoming a minister.

Legendary collective Rock Steady Crew (RSC) will celebrate 31 years of preserving Hip-Hop culture during its annual anniversary celebration. The four-day event will kick off with the celebrity benefit basketball challenge and Against The Grain Concrete B-boy/B-girl battle on July 24 at The Cage in New York City and conclude it’s celebration with a free all-day outdoor concert and food drive on July 27. The event will be held in conjunction with the third annual Lincoln Park Music Festival. Artists scheduled to perform include the Beatnuts, Buckshot, Craig G and Marley Marl, Sadat X, Soul Sonic Force, Positive K, Grand Master Caz, DJ Premier featuring NYG’z and others.

With his new movie set to be another summer blockbuster, rapper/actor Will Smith surprised audience members at the Hancock premier party earlier this week, by reuniting with long-time collaborator DJ Jazzy Jeff. The duo showed no rustiness from years apart, as they started their set with their Hip-Hop classic, “Summertime.” As a group, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince have 5 albums together: three gold, one platinum and one multi-platinum. The duo is planning a summer tour together in conjunction with the Hancock film, which debuted on July 2. Hancock is predicated to gross $70 to $80 million this July 4 weekend. Counting projected ticket sales from the 3,695 theaters that screened the movie late Tuesday night (July 1), other analysts are predicting a total North American gross of over $100 million. Smith’s previous opening weekend best was I Am Legend, which grossed $77.2 million last December.

Drums - 07:15.PM

Thursday.July.03.2008

As labor negotiations between Hollywood's two main actors guilds and the town's producers continue at a snail's pace, actors are starting to speak out about how a Screen Actors Guild strike would affect them, their fellow actors, and the economy. Many bigger-name thesps, such as Amy Brenneman, Ron Livingston, Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Jack Nicholson, and George Clooney have been vocal about the circumstances; some have even circulated petitions. EW.com correspondent Carrie Bell recently talked with Will Smith and several other actors at the premiere of Hancock, and asked them for their thoughts on a potential strike.

Will Smith: "With the writers' strike and Hollywood having been through this already this year and having lost millions of dollars, [an actors' strike is] just really not a good time for America, for California, or for a lot of people I know and work with. I hope we can come to a resolution all sides are happy with before it comes to that again. If it has to happen, I hope it moves rapidly. But the economy is terrible and we don't need to be contributing to it." Read more.

The conservative Action Institute (Motto: Integrating Judeo-Christian truths with Free Market principles) has posted a column by Anthony B. Bradley, a research fellow at the institute, and assistant professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. Professor Bradley takes exception to hip hop artists who invoke God at awards ceremonies as they collect accolades for sexually explicit songs. A pungent nugget:

OCALA, Fla. - Wesley Snipes will be allowed to leave the United States to work on two movies while his lawyers appeal his tax convictions. Federal judge William Terrell Hodges on Wednesday approved the actor’s motion to travel to London and Bangkok, Thailand. Snipes will be in England about three days this month for post-production editing of “Gallowwalker,” and in Thailand for eight weeks to film “Chasing the Dragon.” A jury convicted the action star in February of three counts of willfully failing to file his income taxes. The 45-year-old Snipes, star of the “Blade” trilogy, “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Jungle Fever” among other films, has appealed the convictions and his three-year prison sentence to the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta.

Speech Sells Corn At Milwaukee Festival: Although he declines to say how much money he's put into the business, Speech said, "We invest tens of thousands of dollars a year to put out something like this." As an established entrepreneur, Robert Thomas, 72, was able to penetrate the circles of influence that help one get into a venue like Summerfest. Now, some business leaders hope Speech's fame and music industry connections can help raise the profile of Robby's Roasted Corn. Read more.

Rap as an evangelical tool? Read more.

Drums - 09:50.AM

Saturday.June.28.2008

Los Angeles (E! Online) - American Idol champ Ruben Studdard has something to sing about. The season two winner married Surata Zuri McCants, his girlfriend of two years, in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday. It's the first marriage for the Velvet Teddy Bear. The ceremony took place at Canterbury United Methodist Church and Studdard reportedly had 20 groomsmen by his side. The newlyweds had just filed for a marriage license in Alabama on Monday. Studdard, 29, and McCants, 30, met in October 2006 at a Wal-Mart in Atlanta where he was signing CDs. He followed her to the toy aisle and got her phone number.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Bill Gates spent his last day at Microsoft Friday, bidding a teary goodbye to the company he built into a global software colossus. The Microsoft co-founder, 52, known for his boyish face and nerdy manner, will now focus on running the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , aimed at fighting disease, reducing poverty, and improving education around the world. "My life's work really is about software and working with incredible people," Gates told more than 800 Microsoft employees picked by lottery to attend his onstage farewell chat with chief executive Steve Ballmer at the company's campus in Redmond, Washington. "There won't be a day in my life that I'm not thinking about Microsoft and the great things it's doing and wanting to help." Paul Allen, who teamed up with Gates to start Microsoft in a garage in 1975, will be among those "roasting" his childhood friend at a gala retirement dinner late Friday. Gates began programming computers when he was 13 and a student living in the northwestern US state of Washington.

Drums - 03:32.PM

Thursday.June.26.2008

Jay-Z may be expanding his already vast investment portfolio with a stake in baseball. The mogul is looking into buying shares into the New York Yankees.

Kimora Lee Simmons divorce from hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons is going to cost the Def Jam founder $480,000 a year in child support. According to TMZ, Simmons will have to shell out a total of $40,000 each month for his two daughters, Ming Lee and Aoki with Kimora. Documents in the case specify how long he is expected to make the payments. "Child support in the amount of Twenty Thousand ($20,000) Dollars per month per child continues as to each child until a child is emancipated, reaches the age of nineteen and one half years (July 21, 2019 for Ming Lee; February 16, 2022, for Aoki Lee), dies, marries, becomes self-supporting, is no longer residing with [Kimora Lee], joins the armed forces, is otherwise legally emancipated, or until further order of the Court, whichever occurs first," the paperwork reads.

Suge Knight's legendary hip-hop label, Death Row Records, was auctioned and sold on Wednesday for $24 million. According to TMZ, Global Music Group's president Susan Berg shelled out the cash, putting her in control of all the recordings by Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre during their stay at the label. And as a bonus her purchase also includes an additional 20 unreleased ‘Pac tracks. Considered one of the most infamous labels from the mid-90's, former owner Suge Knight was forced by a bankruptcy court judge to auction all assets to the highest bidder.

Drums - 06:39.PM

Wednesday.June.25.2008

Not even a full month into his abrupt retirement from boxing, former welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather has announced a star studded July 4th weekend celebration for his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Named “Round 13, When the Gloves Come Off,” the three day event (July 4th-6th) will celebrate Mayweather’s 13 year career and the city that laid the groundwork for his success. Scheduled events include a downtown festival, strongman competition, a 70’s themed roller skating party, and a car show. “I want to personally thank all of my fans for their loyalty and dedication as my career comes to a close,” Mayweather recently stated. “I always keep in mind where I came from which is why I decided to have my retirement party in Grand Rapids.” Lil Jon, Ray J, Tank, Vivica Fox, Lauren London, Jackie Long, Regina King, and Taraji P. Henson will also be in attendance throughout the weekend.

Drums - 12:43.PM