HipHopWired Reports
Super producer turned movie director QD3 is gearing to unleash a barrage of DVD projects in the next few months. Taking a break from the highly successful Beef DVD series, QD3 told Hip-Hop Wired exclusively:
“We got a Lil' Wayne film that we just finished that we took to Sundance that'll be coming out real soon and then we have two other films. One that's about urban skateboarding called Concrete Jungle with guys like T.K. (Terry Kennedy) blowing up. We did a documentary on that because we felt like the whole skate movement is a real nice alternative to see another opportunity for inner city kids. Just like basketball and Hip-Hop, it's another lane for us to take now. We want to help accelerate that movement in a big way and urban skateboarding is huge in California for sure.”
QD3 also connected with Hip-Hop stars including Young Buck, Mobb Deep's Prodigy, Fat Joe and Mos Def for another shocking documentary. He stated to Hip-Hop Wired:
"We did another one called Number One With A Bullet which is about gun violence in the Hip-Hop community. It's done from a different perspective. In this movie… a lot of time rappers will act like it didn't hurt when they got shot and its a lot of bravado involved especially when they show it in music videos so in this film we're trying to show the other side. We have artist tell the real story and talk about the recovery. We have doctors and psychologists and artists themselves telling the story of what really happened in an effort to sort of deglamorize gun violence. By the time you get finish watching this movie, you're not gonna want to see guns at all.
After talking with the artists you'll definitely get the message that there's another side to gun violence than what you hear in the songs a lot of times. It humanizes it and CNN came to one of the screenings and said, "They've never seen Hip-Hop artist speak in this way before.” It was a completely different look. We spoke with a lot of the guys from G-Unit. We got B-Real in the movie, Ice Cube, Obie Trice and a whole bunch of other people.”
QD3 also made headlines several months back after legal battles over his authorized feature documentary The Carter, which focuses on the life of Lil' Wayne. After the film was completed, Wayne filed a lawsuit over “scandalous portrayal” and stated that he was supposed to receive final approval over the film before its showing and that some footage could be detrimental to his reputation and career…in particular him sipping syrup throughout the film. The case eventually was rejected. Not focusing on the negative, QD3 maintained, “I can't really speak on that but I think a lot of that was just miscommunication.” He further added to Hip-Hop Wired:
“The main thing that the documentary shows… I think a lot of people would imagine that Wayne is hanging out in clubs with a bunch of women and drinking champagne and that sort of thing. But I would say the main thing you learn when you watch the film is that Wayne is a workaholic. Straight up. After seeing this I think a lot of people will respect his process a lot more. We were with him like 7 or 8 months before he went platinum and then maybe two months after. That's the period we were shooting him for and I remember one day when he got a text from Sylvia Rhone that he went platinum, he was like, “O.K.” He didn't even flinch. He was “O.K., cool” and “get off my bus, I gotta record.”
His whole thing is he's like tireless worker and a lot of people will be very surprised how he's 100% dedicated to his craft and he's also daring like when he's on stage and in the studio, like there's no boundaries for him creatively. I think when people see it they're gonna have a whole different type of respect for him seeing him so young and successful yet staying truly focused on being good and becoming better. That's the main thing and it's not a whole lot of ego or fanfare about who he is as a star in the film at all. Wayne stays on his bus and he's got a recording studio up there and that's his life. So even if he pulls up at a hotel, sometimes he'll be on the bus just to record.
I really gained a lot of respect for him in that regard in terms of how he approaches his records and then how hard he works. I would have to say…I worked with Tupac a lot and I feel like he may end up with a bigger catalogue than Tupac if he hasn't already. That kid works, he's a hard worker, super focused and doesn't get caught up in the industry like that. He just stays in the studio all the time.”
Check out the trailers below for The Carter and Number One With A Bullet.
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NY Daily News Reports
A Floridian biology teacher fired after posing for racy pictures has landed a new career – in pornography.
Tiffany Shepherd, 31, made headlines in April after bikini-clad pictures of her on a fishing charter got her canned from Port St. Lucie High School. She turned to doing porn, she told a Florida news outlet, after losing custody of two of her three kids to her ex-husband and sending out 2,500 resumes – some even to prisons – without landing a new teaching job.
"I'm not particularly proud of it. To be honest, I hate it," Shepherd told Page2live.com. "I'm an educated woman, but I never thought it would come to this. No one gets brought up thinking they'll be a floozy."
On screen, Shepherd goes by the name Leah Lust and has filmed five feature films, including one titled ‘My first sex teacher,' where Shepherd portrays the very job she's been trying to get back.
"It's very professional," says Shepherd on the Web site. "Everyone's tested -- for venereal diseases and AIDS -- and I'm carrying around my little piece of paper that says I'm fine. They love me because I take care of myself and I don't run out to party with my money."
Shepherd got into the business after the captain of the fishing charter that got her into trouble in the first place recommended it as a way to make good money. Captain Gil Coombes, of the boat ‘Smokin ‘Em,' owns a porn Web cam studio with his wife, Kat, called KLC productions.
"We sat down with her and told her she'd never get a teaching job again," Coombes told Page2live.com. "So I told her, use ‘em before they fall to the ground. But God, does she need to work on her acting!"
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Daily Mail Reports
Seemingly on a mission to upstage her rapper boyfriend Kanye West, Amber Rose made sure it was all eyes on her by wearing freakish-looking blue contact lenses to a Las Vegas beach club.
The former stripper, who was recently pictured frolicking with Kanye in an iridescent orange thong bikini on a Barcelona beach, was hosting an event at popular Vegas club Tao Beach when she stunned everyone with her new look.
Bisexual Amber turned up wearing a rather demure black knee length skirt and white tank top. But in typical style, the 26-year-old eventually stripped down to a skimpy bikini to show off her now famous curves
In her skimpy bikini she showed off her various tattoos, including a garland of roses on her right arm and a fairy on her ankle.
Amber seems intent on carving out a career and becoming a star independent of her famous boyfriend.
A few months ago she was signed by top model agency Ford Models and has started hosting events on her own.
She and Kanye started dating in February after originally meeting last year when he was engaged to designer Alexis Phifer.
The 32-year-old wanted Amber to star in his Robocop video, but the couple insisted their relationship was purely professional at this stage.
'Well, my intentions when I met Kanye were to keep it very professional and we really started to like each other,' Amber recently revealed.
'He wanted me for his Robocop video and he had the utmost respect for me.
'I was always a huge fan of his but he had a fiancee, it wasn't like, 'Ah, I'm gonna get with Kanye.
'Kanye knew my life, so when it was, 'Oh, Kanye do you know she was a stripper, and that she used to date girls?' he was like, 'Tell me something I don't know.'
HipHopWired Reports
While fans are reveling in unauthorized leaks of the most anticipated album of the year, Jay-Z is enlisting the help of MTV and Rhapsody to leak the entire Blueprint III himself. The album in its entirety will be available online for free listening starting Tuesday, September 1. MTV's first-rate streaming site, The Leak, and the premiere music entertainment site, Rhapsody, will both have the complete album available for listening online free of charge.
Additionally, Rhapsody is taking things one step further, making the album available for purchase three days before its September 11 release. Rhaphsody.com will have exclusive rights to a deluxe version of the album September 8 complete with two bonus tracks not featured on the in-store version. Adding more fuel to the promotional fire surrounding the project, the media companies are also showing extensive advertisements featuring Jay. Rhapsody will show three advertisements for the album online and will distribute one of them to MTV for their 2009 Video Music Awards on September 13.
In the meantime, Hov appeared at a press conference today (August 31) about his upcoming benefit concert. He was joined by his wife, Beyonce, New York Governor David Paterson, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and Hip-Hop executive, Kevin Liles. Jay revealed that he would have as many as 10 special guest appearances at the concert but refused to provide details saying, “I don't wanna give too much away...”
He also talked about the sense of pride he felt seeing his fellow New Yorkers respond to the 9/11 terrorist attacks saying, “I saw footage of these heroic actions...people running into buildings and saving each other, and I just saw the strength of New York and it made me proud.”
The “Answer the Call” concert will benefit the New York Police & Fired Widows' and Children Benefit Fund. It will take place September 11, the same day The Blueprint III is released, at Madison Square Garden. Fuse TV will have live coverage of the concert for people unable to attend. Tickets are $50 and go on sale September 8. For people with Citi cards, they can purchase tickets at 8 a.m. that day, hours before the tickets go on sale. The general public will be allowed to buy tickets at noon.
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Rap-Up Reports
Ciara mixed it up with Kim Kardashian at Millions of Milkshakes on Saturday (Aug. 29). The BFFs blended their own tasty concoctions at the West Hollywood sweet spot. Kim has a milkshake named after her, which is made out of Snickers topped with whipped cream and a Cadbury Flake.
Rap-Up Reports
After Chris Brown penned a song for Soulja Boy Tell’em’s latest album, the “Turn My Swag On” rapper is returning the favor. The under 21 stars have collaborated on a new “smash” for Brown’s third album Graffiti.
Chris Breezy and Soulja Boy originally recorded “Yamaha Mama” for the latter’s sophomore effort iSouljaBoyTellem. Brown was replaced by Sean Kingston on the album version. “[Chris Brown] wrote that song,” Soulja Boy tells Rap-Up.com. “He was on the hook originally, but he came back and told me that he didn’t like the song, so we put Sean Kingston on the record.”
Not to worry though. The two already have another collaboration in the bag. “I’m already on his album. I did a record with him when I was in L.A., probably a month ago,” Soulja Boy reveals. “He called me up and was like, ‘Man, I want you to get on this song.’ So we worked together and we did a song that I think a lot of people gon’ like. It’s a smash record. When he put it out, it gon’ get a good response.”
Don’t be surprised to also see the “Run It!” singer on Soulja Boy’s new album The DeAndre Way. “If I want him to be on the album, he gon’ be on the album. It just depends on the right type of song. If the record makes sense and I want him to be on there, he gon’ be on there.”
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AllHipHop Reports
Although 50 Cent was unable to get clearance for his Family Day in Queen’s 40 Projects, the G Unit mogul achieved another goal in hosting a benefit concert on Saturday (August 29) for the schoolchildren of New York’s PS-30.
The show took place in front of the invite-only crowd at New Jersey’s Six Flags.
In between songs, 50 explained the importance of reaching out to kids from his native South Jamaica, Queens neighborhood.
“I want to thank everyone for getting on the buses and coming out,” 50 stated. “I was trying to do something good. When I was small Great Adventures (Six Flags) was a big thing to me. So I wanted to make sure I brought kids so they could have that same experience.”
Despite the festive mood, the mogul was still bothered by how the City of New York blocked his attempt to have a family day in his neighborhood over fears of violence.
“When I tried to do it in the hood like everyone else would do it, everyone is like '50 Cent don’t come through the hood.' But all of them don’t get a chance to see me when I come through.,” 50 stated. “And they be like 'we don’t see 50.' You don’t see me because I’m usually somewhere where I’m not trying to be seen. Everybody look right there…that’s the motherf**king police. Them motherf**kers follow me everywhere I go. Y’know why? Because I’m from Southside! While everybody looking f**k the police!”
The show went off without any violent incidents and 50 Cent plans to make the benefit an annual event.
At press time, the Queens emcee is hopeful his much-delayed fourth LP Before I Self-Destruct will meet its new tentative release date of November 3.
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Last night DJ Unk suffered a heart attack apparently from partying to hard. Luckily Dr's were able to save him and he's on the road to recovery. Unk tweeted that he's going to start living a healthier lifestyle without the weed and drinks.
NY Daily News Reports
Roxanne's revenge was sweet indeed.
Twenty-five years after the first queen of hip-hop was stiffed on her royalty checks, Dr. Roxanne Shante boasts an Ivy League Ph.D. - financed by a forgotten clause in her first record deal.
"This is a story that needs to be told," Shante said. "I'm an example that you can be a teenage mom, come from the projects, and be raised by a single parent, and you can still come out of it a doctor."
Her prognosis wasn't as bright in the years after the '80s icon scored a smash hit at age 14: "Roxanne's Revenge," a razor-tongued response to rap group UTFO's mega-hit "Roxanne, Roxanne."
The 1984 single sold 250,000 copies in New York City alone, making Shante (born Lolita Gooden) hip hop's first female celebrity.
She blazed a trail followed by Lil' Kim, Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah - although Shante didn't share their success.
After two albums, Shante said, she was disillusioned by the sleazy music industry and swindled by her record company. The teen mother, living in the Queensbridge Houses, recalled how her life was shattered.
"Everybody was cheating with the contracts, stealing and telling lies," she said. "And to find out that I was just a commodity was heartbreaking."
But Shante, then 19, remembered a clause in her Warner Music recording contract: The company would fund her education for life.
She eventually cashed in, earning a Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell to the tune of $217,000 - all covered by the label. But getting Warner Music to cough up the dough was a battle.
"They kept stumbling over their words, and they didn't have an exact reason why they were telling me no," Shante said.
She figured Warner considered the clause a throwaway, never believing a teen mom in public housing would attend college. The company declined to comment for this story.
Shante found an arm-twisting ally in Marguerita Grecco, the dean at Marymount Manhattan College. Shante showed her the contract, and the dean let her attend classes for free while pursuing the money.
"I told Dean Grecco that either I'm going to go here or go to the streets, so I need your help," Shante recalls. "She said, 'We're going to make them pay for this.'"
Grecco submitted and resubmitted the bills to the label, which finally agreed to honor the contract when Shante threatened to go public with the story.
Shante earned her doctorate in 2001, and launched an unconventional therapy practice focusing on urban African-Americans - a group traditionally reluctant to seek mental health help.
"People put such a taboo on therapy, they feel it means they're going crazy," she explained. "No, it doesn't. It just means you need someone else to talk to."
Shante often incorporates hip-hop music into her sessions, encouraging her clients to unleash their inner MC and shout out exactly what's on their mind.
"They can't really let loose and enjoy life," she said. "So I just let them unlock those doors."
Shante, 38, is also active in the community. She offers $5,000 college scholarships each semester to female rappers through the nonprofit Hip Hop Association.
She also dispenses advice to young women in the music business via a MySpace page.
"I call it a warning service, so their dreams don't turn into nightmares," she said.
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons said Shante is a shining role model for the rap community. "Dr. Shante's life is inspiring," Simmons said. "She was a go-getter who rose from the struggle and went from hustling to teaching. She is a prime example that you can do anything, and everything is possible."
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Singer Amerie is back! She talks to GIANT Magazine about her personal style and upcoming album in her photo shoot for GIANT's Celebrity Style section.
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AllHipHop Reports
The life of Harlem rapper Lamont “Big L” Terry will be told via a new documentary titled Street Struck: The Big L Story.
Produced by Dangerzone Films, Street Struck takes a look at Big L’s rise, from his early involvement with groups like Children of Da Corn (featuring Mase, McGruff, Bloodshed and Cam’ron) to his role as a member of the legendary Diggin In The Crates collective of rappers and producers.
Street Struck also chronicles Big L’s ascent as one of the most gifted, technical rappers in the genre.
The documentary, which was produced by Dangerzone Films, features rare stories and photographs about Big L, as told by various family members, friends and other rappers who worked with him.
The final version of the documentary will also feature extremely rare footage of Big L and the late Big Pun performing together on stage and conducting an interview from the set of Fat Joe’s “John Blaze” video shoot.
Artists like Mysonne, DJ Premier, Showbiz, McGruff, Cipha Sounds, Stan Spit and others give an insiders view of Big L, who was tragically killed in a barrage of bullets in February of 1999 in Harlem.
Big L’s murder remains unsolved by New York police.
In related news, a mural of Big L on 140th Street in Harlem was slated to be re-done to withstand the elements and to touch up the painting.
Although there is no release date for Street Struck: The Big L Story, sources told AllHipHop.com that the documentary will be released in February, to mark the 11th year of Big L’s death.
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Reuters Reports
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years," Whitney Houston sings on what is, in fact, her latest comeback album.
The 46-year-old pop singer, a long-term resident of the record charts during the 1980s and '90s, officially ends a seven-year hiatus on Monday with the U.S. release of her sixth studio album, "I Look To You."
Early reviews are promising and Houston's Sony Corp-owned Arista Records label hopes it will become one of the biggest sellers of the year.
The music industry desperately needs a hit. Annual U.S. sales in 2009 are on track to slide for the eighth time in nine years, ravaged by the recession, piracy and competition from other forms of entertainment such as video games.
Houston could also do with a hit. Her previous album "Just Whitney" in 2002, also was billed as a comeback and was the worst-selling of her career. She got more attention in the ensuing years for her rocky personal life, including multiple stints in drug rehab and a bitter divorce from former R&B star Bobby Brown.
In fact, she half-jokingly said last month that she had been planning to retire to an island when her mentor, record-industry chieftain Clive Davis, phoned 3 1/2 years ago to lure her back to the studio.
Davis, who has closely overseen Houston's career since signing her at a New York nightclub in 1983, lined up such A-listers as R&B singers Alicia Keys and R. Kelly, and prolific tunesmith Diane Warren to write songs for Houston.
"IT'S A BEYONCE WORLD"
Keys wrote the single "Million Dollar Bill," which received a warm reception at radio stations earlier this month. But will that translate into big album sales, especially when there's a new crop of superstars in the spotlight?
"It's a Beyonce world," said Caryn Ganz, an editor at Rolling Stone magazine. "I don't think Whitney has a clear place anymore."
She predicted early sales would be strong, then taper off.
Arista agrees with the first half of that assessment. Industry sources expect the album will sell between 300,000 and 400,000 copies across the United States during its first week, easily taking the No. 1 spot during a late-summer slump.
"This is a cultural event," said Scott Seviour, the label's senior VP of marketing and artist development. "The enthusiasm and the energy for this release is palpable."
Such a start would outpace first-week tallies for recent releases by Kelly Clarkson (255,000) and Madonna (280,000) but fall short of those for Mariah Carey (463,000), Beyonce (482,000) and Britney Spears (505,000).
"Just Whitney," the only album that Davis did not work on, debuted at No. 9 in 2002 with 205,000 copies and sold about 730,000, overall. Houston's worldwide sales of albums, singles and videos stand at 170 million units, according to Arista.
The label has left no marketing stone unturned, targeting Houston's core fan base of 30- to 55-year-old women, as well as the gay and lesbian community, Seviour said.
For her part, Houston has adopted a low profile. As with her 2002 album, she has consented to only one big TV interview, this time on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which will air on September 14. Next Tuesday, she will tape a performance in New York's Central Park for ABC's breakfast show "Good Morning America."
A few magazine cover stories are in the works, including the next issue of Ebony, and there probably will be a concert tour next year, Seviour said
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