Video After The JumpDumout General Mazaradi Fox goes in on Young Buck for being disloyal to 50 Cent and G-Unit. Mazi knows 50 Cent quite well from their days growing up together in Southside Jamaica Queens.
He's watched the entire Young Buck vs G-Unit situation and has come to the conclusion that Buck is an idiot.
Fox also has a few choice words for Young Jeezy's USDA team
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NBA commissioner David Stern suspended Washington Wizards guards Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton for the remainder of the NBA season Wednesday, and ESPN.com learned that Arenas has agreed not to appeal the punishment.
Stern's disciplinary actions were announced Wednesday afternoon after Arenas met face-to-face with Stern for the first time since the gun incident that put Arenas' future with the Wizards in doubt.
The Washington Post first reported the length of the Arenas suspension, and a source with knowledge of the meeting told ESPN.com that Arenas told Stern that he expects and deserves to be suspended for the rest of the season, which was believed to be the punishment Stern favored. It was unclear whether Crittenton also would decline to file an appeal.
"The NBA has conducted a thorough investigation of events relating to this matter," Stern said. "It is not disputed that, following an argument on the team's flight home from a game in Phoenix, both Mr. Arenas and Mr. Crittenton brought guns to the Verizon Center locker room and -- with other players and team personnel present or nearby -- displayed them to one another in a continuation of their dispute. The players engaged in this conduct despite a specific rule set forth in the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the Players Association prohibiting players from possessing a weapon at an NBA facility, and reminders of this prohibition given annually by the NBA to players both in writing and in person.
"The issue here is not about the legal ownership and possession of guns, either in one's home or elsewhere. It is about possession of guns in the NBA workplace, which will not be tolerated," Stern said.
"I have met separately with Mr. Arenas and with Mr. Crittenton. Both have expressed remorse for their actions and an understanding of the seriousness of their transgressions. Both have volunteered to engage in community service in order to turn the lessons they have learned into an educational message for others. I accept fully the sincerity of their expressions of regret and intent to create something positive from this incident.
"Nevertheless, there is no justification for their conduct. Accordingly, I am today converting Mr. Arenas' indefinite suspension without pay to a suspension without pay for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, and am also suspending Mr. Crittenton without pay, effective immediately, for the remainder of the 2009-10 season."
Arenas -- just as Crittenton did Tuesday -- met with Stern in what was regarded as the final step before the league announces a finite length to Arenas' indefinite suspension.
ESPN.com reported Friday that suspension lengths for Arenas and Crittenton would be announced this week in the wake of a Dec. 21 confrontation in the Wizards' locker room in which both players have admitted to displaying unloaded handguns.
Arenas entered a guilty plea Jan. 15 in District of Columbia Superior Court to a felony weapons possession charge after admitting to bringing four guns into the locker room following a heated argument with Crittenton during a card game on the team plane.
Arenas missed his 12th consecutive game Tuesday night after Stern announced an indefinite suspension on Jan. 6, Arenas' 28th birthday.
Arenas awaits criminal court sentencing on March 26. His sentence could range from probation and community service and a fine to a recommended prison term of up to six months.
The sentence Arenas receives is expected to be the determining factor for the Wizards regarding their intent to void the remaining four seasons of Arenas' $111 million contract, which is valued at just over $80 million. Many league and legal experts contend that the Wizards could not successfully attempt to void Arenas' contract unless he is forced to serve jail time during the NBA season.
Crittenton, who hasn't played a single minute for the Wizards this season, met with Stern on Tuesday after being sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation following his guilty plea to a misdemeanor gun charge. Prosecutors agreed to drop a second misdemeanor charge of attempted carrying a pistol without a license.
"[Union director] Billy [Hunter] has been consistent with his message and his tone of really kind of waiting until the NBA comes out with what their position will be going forward and until then we can't respond," players association president Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers told ESPN.com last week.
"It's never happened before, so there isn't anything you can match it to, per se," Fisher said. "If I was commissioner? Well, I'm not privy what he has to balance, what all is at stake in terms of what message he sends to fans, to sponsors, to team owners. So there's a lot more on his plate to contemplate before he makes a decision.
"We respect that process, but from a union perspective we have to protect the short-term and long-term rights of our members, and when members do wrong things or make mistakes, they'll be rightfully punished, and we're just here to make sure that that doesn't go beyond what it should be under the circumstances."
Wizards coach Flip Saunders told The Washington Post on Tuesday: "I think right now, the whole situation, we're all pretty much numb to the whole thing. We knew when it got to the point that it got to, nothing good was going to come out of it."ESPN
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Call Bishop Lamont hip-hop’s Conan O’Brien. Like the lanky late-night talk show host, the Carson-raised rapper ostensibly received the keys to the kingdom when he achieved the dream of every local MC: signing to Dr. Dre’s Aftermath, “The Tonight Show” of record labels. But things didn’t go according to plan. Despite dropping several highly regarded mix tapes and scoring a hit radio single with the Dr. Dre-produced “Grow Up,” Lamont was left to languish on the sidelines. To add insult to injury, the label sent a cease-and-desist letter to Power 106, barring the station from playing the tune -- a bizarre move that seems opposed to conventional music industry logic. (Aftermath did not respond to requests for comment.)
Of course, common sense has paid few house calls lately to the laboratory that Andre Young built. Since Busta Rhymes’ “The Big Bang” in 2006, Aftermath has released just three records, a pair from 50 Cent and another from fellow longtime meal ticket Eminem. The Interscope subsidiary handed Rhymes, Chef Raekwon, Rakim and Joell Ortiz their walking papers. As for Dr. Dre's “Detox,” the long-awaited “Unicorn of Rap,” both Raekwon’s laughably tardy “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2” and Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” beat it into stores. At this point, cynics cluck that it ought to be called “Botox,” considering we’ll all need cosmetic work by the time it sees the light of day.
Yet through it all, Lamont remained the loyal soldier -- clearly frustrated with the foot-dragging but unwilling to criticize his mentor (other label executives were a different story) and laboring diligently on Dre’s “Detox” and his own debut, “The Reformation.” Over the last year, rumors swirled that Lamont had been dropped from the label, with the rapper born Phillip Martin vehemently denying the accounts. But last month, he revealed that he had parted ways with Aftermath, telling Shade 45’s “The All Out Show” " that it was like “ 'Shawshank Redemption'… I still love them over there, but thank God… I was going out to the prison yard, shaking gravel out my pants…trying to crawl through the sewer."
Lamont declined to comment further on the disarray at his old home, but spoke to Pop & Hiss about the 700 masters he left with, his forthcoming releases, hanging out with Ram Dass and his future plans for his own imprint, Diocese Records.
You were able to secure your masters per the terms of the severance agreement with Aftermath. What exactly is contained on those recordings?
We’re about to finally bless the world with a lot of music. It got to the point where it wasn’t fair to the fans or to myself to have to keep on waiting. I understand that labels have obligations, but it was difficult to have fans coming up to you and asking when I was going to get a release date. There’s a lot of crazy records I got to take with me. There’s a J Dilla record that I got with the blessing of DJ House Shoes. Tracks from DJ Khalil, Lord Finesse, 9th Wonder, Mr. Porter, Focus, basically a who’s who of underground hip-hop.
And tracks from Dr. Dre?
Yes, there are tracks from the good doctor in there.
What’s the status of your relationship with Dre?
It’s as good as it’s ever been. In the course of the time it took to get out of the Aftermath contract, I never wanted it to cause our friendship to suffer. He's like my big brother. I understand that business is business, and I’m hoping to continue working with him in the future.
What’s the plan for your next release?
I’m going to put out “The Shawshank Redemption,” a mix tape with Bink and DJ Drama that will talk about what I've been going through.
You’d been working on a follow-up to “Caltroit,” the sequel to the original collaboration with Black Milk. What’s the status on that?
There was so much going on over the past year that it had to take a back seat. But we did a record called “Fat Gold Dookie Rope” that’s probably going to be one of the first singles off the new project that we release.
At one point you were planning to release a tape called “No Country For Old Men,” in which you were going to take shots at West Coast veterans for not supporting younger artists. What happened with that project?
Snoop actually reached out to me, which was really dope. I’ve known him since I was a teenager and his brother and I are friends. A lot of people thought it was a ploy for attention, but it was about older artists supporting the younger artists. Those guys are heroes to us and it’s important to carry on the tradition. But we had a heart to heart and he explained that he’s willing to support all of us, which you can see now.
It’s important to keep the West from falling into the standard boxes you think of when you think of West Coast artists. There’s a lot of talented people out here who don’t get the shine they deserve: Pac Div, U-N-I, Med and Rocc C and Oh No from Oxnard, and a bunch more I’m forgetting at the moment. I’m liking the direction we’re going in, but there needs to be more unity and I’m in a great position where I can lead by example and move at my own pace.
You’re not the only West Coast artist who has had difficulty getting a major label to release your record. At the moment, Glasses Malone, Nipsey Hussle and Jay Rock have all been able to land singles on Power 106 and still don’t have a release date in sight. Neither do Pac Div. What do you make of that?
It's ridiculous. Nipsey's been doing his thing, Jay Rock had a hit song with Lil Wayne and will.i.am. and no one can get a release date. People sometimes get it twisted that I hate the skinny jeans kids, but that's not true at all. I love that The New Boyz are speaking for kids their own age in a way that hyphy never had the chance to do. But none of the labels are giving the West Coast artists a chance right now, they're busy trying to figure out a new design for the business -- all of a sudden the machine they created is working against them. That's one of the reasons why I'm working toward getting Diocese Records off the ground.
I'm trying to build a label for everything from rap to R&B to jazz to alternative rock to country. We're trying to do everything in-house, with videos done by DJ Skee and Matt Alonzo, and radio and Internet promotion done right. Artists would come to me when I was at Aftermath and I told them that their best bet was to avoid signing with a major. They thought I was hating, but the labels want to give you 360 degree deals and take all of your publishing and your merchandise and publishing. If an artist can sell 40,000 copies on their own, they're rich. If they sell 40,000 on a major, they get dropped.
What's the status of your own album, "The Reformation?"
It's almost finished. There's so many records, but I've had the blessing to be able to sit with Ram Dass lately in Maui, and the books he's given me and the things I've learned have been so dope. I'm almost overwhelmed. It's hard to know where to begin. I've been sitting down with so many amazing people lately and learning and evolving so much, that's it's just crazy. There's nothing better than being able to have my freedom.
Sory written by Jeff Weiss of the LA Times
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Video After The JumpPop singer Pink and superstar R&B queen Beyonce won't be having each other over for dinner anytime soon.
Pink, an animal rights activist has been angry at Beyonce for a couple of years because she rocks fur.
When this beef first started back in 2006 Pink was quoted on PETA's website as saying.
"(Beyonce) is a b**ch! "I only hope she gets bit on the a**e by whatever animal she wears. "Some of the practices are so cruel and as a celebrity you have a responsibility to think about the message you're sending out by wearing fur.
"People will think it's ok or cool, but it's not."
Apparently Pink carries a grudge for a long time because at a recent concert she mocks Beyonce by pretending to be her while singing her song "Stupid Girls"
Peep the video below.
Pink Mocking Beyonce While Performing "Stupid Girls"
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Audio Inside
Slip-N-Slide recording artist Deuce Poppi is back with another hot joint to follow up his smash hit "My White Friends". This time he mixes some old school Chuck Berry with some new school rhymes for "Go Poppi Go"
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Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli (ahn-DRAY'-uh boh-CHEL'-ee) will perform Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" during a fundraising segment for Haiti relief at this year's Grammy Awards.
The Recording Academy said Wednesday the duet will be available for download at iTunes.com/Target following the show, with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross to benefit earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.
The 52nd annual Grammy Awards will air live Sunday on CBS from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Music's biggest night will also include performances by album of the year nominees Beyonce, the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, the Dave Matthews Band and Taylor Swift.Yahoo
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Kelly Rowland was looking for a fresh start when she parted ways with longtime manager and Beyoncé's father Mathew Knowles. After success with When Loves Takes Over, a reality show and other opportunities in 2009, Rowland is said to be on track for an even better 2010 thanks to a new record deal.
While it has not been confirmed, sources say the former Destiny's Child darling met with record executive Sylvia Rhone last week with the intent of signing a deal with Universal/Motown.
If said deal goes through, Rowland will join a roster of talent that includes Ryan Leslie, Erykah Badu, Melanie Fiona, Hal Linton and Kid Cudi.
As previously reported Rowland has been busy working on a follow up to her "Like This"-led album Ms. Kelly.David Guetta, who worked with Rowland on the hit single "When Love Takes Over," confirmed that he has infact contributed to her as-yet-untitled third solo studio effort.
"I'm actually already working with her on her next album. We've just done a few songs at the moment and it's all fairly top secret," said Guetta. "We've become really close friends over time. I think she's an amazing singer."
Vibe.com
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A copyright infringement lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court by Plaintiffs Ebony Latrice Batts, a/k/a Phoenix Phenom, and Manfred Mohr, against Will.I.Am (William Adams Jr.), Fergie (Stacy Ann Ferguson), Apl.De.Ap (Alan Pineada Lindo), and Taboo (Jaime Gomez), all individually and collectively as the music group the Black Eyed Peas.
Also named in the lawsuit were the Universal Music Group, Inc.; Interscope Records; EMI April Music, Inc.; Headphone Junkie Publishing, LLC; and Will.I.Am Music, Inc.
The Complaint alleges that sometime between January and March of 2009, the Black Eyed Peas intentionally and willfully copied “Boom Dynamite” when they co-wrote and recorded “Boom Boom Pow.”
As a result, “Boom Boom Pow, “as a whole, is substantially similar to “Boom Dynamite,” and the “hook” portions of both songs are strikingly similar. The Complaint also alleges that approximately one year after the plaintiffs submitted “Boom Dynamite” to Interscope and one year after “Boom Dynamite” was released, the Black Eyed Peas released the song “Boom Boom Pow” as the first single off the group's fifth studio album, entitled The E.N.D.
“Boom Boom Pow” became the first US number single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for Black Eyed Peas and is currently nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. The Complaint also refers to other claims of copyright infringement made against the Black Eyed Peas, and seeks unspecified damages, disgorgement of profits, and punitive damages.
Ira Gould, the attorney for Batts and Mohr, released a statement concerning the case:
“My clients submitted their copyrighted song “Boom Dynamite” to Interscope Records after Interscope had shown interest in some of their music, and the Black Eyed Peas later copied the song when they wrote “Boom Boom Pow.”
A simple listening of the two songs will tell you that the songs are substantially similar, and that the hooks of the two songs are virtually identical in rhythm and lyrics.”
Compare the two versions below and decide for yourself.
Phoenix Phenom "Boom Dynamite"Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow"HipHopWired
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Audio After The JumpOn Monday, we brought you info from the great Bun B and his journey to tear a hole in every beat he raps on this year. Uncle Bun wants his name next to dozens and dozens of songs this year, whether it's original material, freestyles or guest spots. Another MC known for knocking the lining out of a beat is Philly's Cassidy. Cass has been jumping on a slew of instrumentals, from Jay-Z's "On to the Next One" to Jay Electronica's "Exhibit C."Read more…
WASHINGTON – Bob Dylan and Natalie Cole are among the performers President Barack Obama will welcome to the White House next month for a concert celebrating music of the civil rights movement.The White House on Tuesday said Jennifer Hudson, John Legend and John Mellencamp will perform Feb. 10 in a concert to be broadcast the next evening. Smokey Robinson, Seal and the Blind Boys of Alabama also are on the program, which will be hosted by Morgan Freeman and Queen Latifah.
The evening will include the Obamas and readings from civil rights speeches.
Earlier in the day, Mrs. Obama plans to have 120 high school students meet with the performers to talk about music's influence on the civil rights movement.
Yahoo
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Christina Milian's 81-year-old neighbor claims he was mauled by one of her dogs back in 2008 -- and now the man wants Christina to pay for the canine's alleged brutality.
Leo Skolion filed a lawsuit against Christina and family earlier this month in L.A. County Superior Court, claiming the family's negligence lead to the attack that left him with "severe personal injuries."
Leo tells TMZ it all started in October of '08, when Christina's home had "flooding problems" which caused a gate between their properties to become damaged.
Leo says he went over to speak to the family about repairing the gate when one of their dogs escaped ... then attacked him from behind and bit "a huge chunk" out of the back of his arm.
The 81-year-old claims it took 19 stitches and 9 months of rehabilitation to get back to normal -- and that he still has to receive psychiatric help for fear and depression.
Leo is suing Christina -- real name Christine Flores -- her mother Carmen and her sister Danielle for an undetermined amount.
Calls to Christina's camp have not been returned.
TMZ
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Video After The JumpForming like Voltron, the Four Horsemen are making a much needed return according to Tha Dogg Pound's Kurupt Young Gotti.
Consisting of Kurupt, Killah Priest, Ras Kass and Canibus. The Four Horsemen bring together the East and West Coast on some smash the mic sh*t.
These dudes were slaughtering mc's before Slaughterhouse. I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to offer
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Year after year passes and still no 'Detox' album from legendary producer Dr Dre.
With his place in music history already cemented I think the time has come to seriously ask the question. Will there ever be a 'Detox' album?
I'm not being cynical or critical of Andre Young at all when I pose this question. After all he is in my opinion the best producer in hip hop history.
But as more time passes and the date of his final studio album's release keeps getting pushed further into the horizon it's starting to look like the album will never see the light of day.
We all know he has enough quality music stashed in the vaults to release 10 albums at this point so why isn't there a firm release date?
In a recent interview with British newspaper The Guardian he gave this answer as to when we will see 'Detox'
"I'm working hard on it. I'm stopping to work on other artists in-between, but the minute it's done and I feel it right here," he says patting his heart, "that's when it will come out"
He further added "I have to go out to clubs now, You need to understand what people are listening to."
I think that sums it all up right there. When you have accomplished as much as Dr Dre has there isn't a need to go clubbing to see what garbage is being played. You don't follow trends, you set them yourself.
When Dre dropped 'The Chronic' and 'Chronic 2001' they were albums that set the standard for every other artist. With the kind of beats you could ride and smoke to.
We need that again from Dre. But the question remains, will he ever give it to us?
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The National Football League is planning to make its RedZone Channel available to cellphone users next season, a move that has its broadcast partners questioning whether they will still get the same bang for their buck on their multibillion-dollar television deals.
The move, which would free fans from their living rooms on Sunday afternoons, is a significant shift in media strategy for the country's most popular sports league, whose focus has long been to protect the value of its lucrative television deals.
The RedZone cable-TV channel provides coverage of games all day on Sundays, cutting to the action any time a team is within 20 yards of a touchdown. It acts as a viewer's "remote control," switching between scoreing plays, key ball turnovers and other plays of interest.
If the RedZone Channel becomes available on mobile devices, viewers would see the same stream of important plays as people watching at home as the coverage bounces from game to game.
"This is tailor-made to be able to watch during your kids' soccer games," said Brian Rolapp, the NFL's vice president for media strategy. "We want to put it on the Internet and wireless phones for next season, so we're thinking about how we do that."
For News Corp.'s Fox and CBS Corp., an expansion of the RedZone Channel has the potential to erode the audience for some of its most reliable—and expensive—programming. The two companies pay the NFL about $1.4 billion each season to air live games on Sunday afternoons.
"RedZone hasn't hurt us yet, but we watch it very closely," said Sean McManus, president of news and sports for CBS. "Anything that would adversely affect our ratings on a Sunday afternoon would be a major concern to us."
David Hill, Chairman and CEO of Fox Sports, declined to comment.
The NFL has enjoyed a record season of television ratings. The league announced Monday that for the third time in three weeks a larger audience had watched each playoff game this year than for comparable games last year, a stunning achievement at a time when every other sports league is struggling to hang on to viewers. For the regular season, NFL games attracted an average audience of 16.6 million viewers, an increase of two million viewers, or 14%, over last year and the highest average audience since 1990.
The growth has come even as the NFL has pursued a media strategy substantially different than other leagues. In an age when every other sports league has tried to win the digital age by making their games and highlights available everywhere at all times, the NFL has used scarcity to its advantage, limiting both the number and distribution of its games and highlights.
NFL highlights currently are available on the Internet only via NFL.com. For the most part games are available only during Sunday night broadcasts or for people who pay for DirecTV Group Inc.'s Sunday Ticket package and live in an area that can't accommodate a satellite dish.
The NFL has limited its wireless ambitions to two deals, with modest reach. It had a wireless deal with Sprint Nextel Corp. this season, but only for eight, non-Sunday games in the second half of the season.
It also has a deal for Sunday afternoon games with DirecTV, but subscribers have to pay $280 for the Sunday Ticket and then another $100 for the mobile feed, available on gadgets such as the iPhone, Palm Pre and select Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Android devices.
Prices haven't been set yet for the mobile RedZone.
This year, Sprint's NFL Mobile package was included as part of the company's Everything plans starting at $69.99, including Simply Everything, which combines unlimited voice, messaging and extensive data services– such as NFL Mobile Live—for $99.99 per month. Other Sprint customers paid $15 a month for the added service.
"We want to be on the best available screen, whatever that is," said Bob Dupuy, president of Major League Baseball, which offers fans the ability to watch games wirelessly and over the Internet through MLB.com.
While the growth of the RedZone channel may ultimately erode the broadcast audience, so far the additional coverage appears to have sparked more interest.
"There seems to be an insatiable appetite for NFL games," said Lee Berke, a leading sports media consultant. For the other major sports leagues, the size of the audience for a team's local broadcasts depends largely on team performance, while audience size for the playoffs depends on whether the teams participating represent major media markets.
"Right now the sentiment among broadcasters is that this kind of wireless and digital product is only building fans' attachments to the broadcasts," said Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS sports. "So far, if you can avoid it, you're not going to choose your two-by-two-inch cell phone over your 52-inch, hi-def television."
Wall Street Journal
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BERLIN – Esther Bejarano says music helped keep her alive as a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz and in the years that followed.
Now, 65 years after the liberation of the Nazi death camp, the 85-year-old has teamed up with the hip-hop band Microphone Mafia to spread her anti-racism message to German youth.
"It's a clash of everything: age, culture, style," Bejarano, a petite lady with an amiable chuckle, told The Associated Press ahead of Auschwitz Liberation Day on Wednesday. "But we all love music and share a common goal: we're fighting against racism and discrimination."
In Shalom, the first track of the CD Bejarano and the Microphone Mafia released last year titled Per La Vita, the bands sing about longing for world peace.
"My head is bowed, too many tears held back," the song goes. "Worried I look around and see what happens, I'm not their leitmotif, which is the base of their lives: Violence, hatred and death, because too many people remained silent."
The daughter of a Jewish cantor from Saarbruecken in western Germany, Bejarano grew up in a musical home studying piano until the Nazis came to power and tore her family apart. Bejarano was deported to Auschwitz, where she became a member of the girls' orchestra, playing the accordion every time trains full of Jews from across Europe arrived at the death camp.
"We played with tears in our eyes," Bejarano remembered. "The new arrivals came in waving and applauding us, but we knew they would be taken directly to the gas chambers."
Bejarano survived, but her parents and sister Ruth were killed by the Nazis.
For the past 20 years Bejarano has played music mostly from the past — Yiddish melodies, tunes from the ghetto and Jewish resistance songs — with her children Edna and Yoram in a Hamburg-based band called Coincidence.
About two years ago, Kutlu Yurtseven, a Turkish immigrant rapper from the Cologne-based Microphone Mafia, got in touch with the band to see if they'd team up with them.
"Our band wanted to do something against the growing racism and anti-Semitism in Germany," Yurtseven, 36, said in a phone interview Tuesday.
"Yoram told me that first of all he had to ask his mother Esther what she thought about a crossover project with a bunch of young rappers."
Esther Bejarano, it turned out, thought hip-hop music "was really a bit too loud," but also said she saw it as a good way to reach out to Germany's youth.
"We want to keep the memories of the Holocaust alive, but at the same time look into the future and encourage young people to take a stand against new Nazis," said Bejarano. "I know what racism can lead to and the members of Microphone Mafia are immigrants and have experienced their share of discrimination as well."
Yurtseven, a Muslim, also sees a message of religious harmony.
"All religions ask to love and respect others and that's what we do as well," Yurtseven said.
The crossover of modern hip-hop and traditional Jewish folklore turned out to be quite a hit. The rappers have mixed Jewish songs with stomping hip-hop beats and also created new lyrics for some of the songs that are more accessible for a younger audience.
Last summer, the two bands released Per La Vita and a documentary about the band that was initially scheduled for the Auschwitz liberation anniversary is now supposed to be ready later this year to be shown at high schools across Germany.
The CD was released on a small, independent label and it was not clear how many copies were sold.
Currently, the troupe is touring through Germany. Their audiences range from teenage immigrants at metropolitan youth centers to a more established, older crowd that usually favors Bejarano's classic approach to music.
"They all love it," said Bejarano. "Even some of the older guests sometimes climb on the chairs and dance."
Bejarano said it can be exhausting at her age to perform on stage with a bunch of youngsters but that she has found ways to adjust the shows to her needs.
"I've educated the boys," Bejarano said with her trademark chuckle. "We've lowered the volume and I told them to stop jumping around on stage all the time."
For Yurtseven and his fellow band members, the fact that they are performing with an Auschwitz survivor has been a unique experience as well.
"I once asked Esther how she can still make music after Auschwitz," he remembered. "And she said that if they had also taken away the music from her, she would have died."
Yahoo
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NEWPORT BEACH -- A 79 year old international jewelry thief, whose story is the subject of an upcoming movie starring Halle Berry, is under arrest in Orange County.
Doris Payne was arrested Friday afternoon on suspicion of grand theft after security guards at Saks Fifth Avenue in South Coast Plaza say she stole a Burberry trench coat worth $1,300, according to Costa Mesa Police Lt. Mark Manley.
Payne is being held without bail on a parole violation.
Payne's life as an international jewel thief is the subject of an upcoming movie, "Who Is Doris Payne," starring Halle Berry.
In 1999, she was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison after stealing a 5-carat diamond ring from a Neiman Marcus in Denver.
Interviewed by reporters in 2005, Payne said she had no idea how many jewels she had stolen but that her career as a thief had spanned the globe from New York and Las Vegas to London, Paris, Monte Carlo and Tokyo.
Detectives said she would use distraction techniques to confuse jewelry store clerks. She would engage the clerk in an interesting story, or ask to see other rings and confuse them, and easily slip away with the jewels. Eventually, Payne was caught as technology and security systems improved.
Denver police detective Gail Riddell described Payne in 2005 as a female Cary Grant, "smooth and confident."
"She is very good at what she does," said Riddell. "She has the style."
She was sentenced to two to five years for pawning a stolen Palo Alto ring in Las Vegas, as well as stealing a ring in Nevada.
In the spring of 2008, Payne completed her prison sentence in Colorado and returned to California, where she was released on parole until her arrest.
KTLA
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