BallerStatus Reports
Rapper Common and his "friends" have signed on to headline the second annual "Common & Friends" concert at the Hollywood Palladium in September 26.
In addition to Common, the "friends" on deck include The Roots, De La Soul, Ludacris, Nas, plus "huge special guests," reads the event's flyer.
The show is being put together to raise funds for the Common Ground Foundation, created by actor and hip-hop artist Lonnie Rashid Lynn, also known as Common.
"For the second year in a row, Common and the biggest artists in hip-hop will come out and lend their support for the Common Ground Foundation," said Executive Director, Jodie Blum. "With proceeds from this amazing event, we are able to raise much needed funds to empower youth in the United States."
Tickets for the event are already on sale through LiveNation.com. Tickets are $100 for general admission and $200 for VIP Balcony seating.
According to the organization's press release: the Common Ground Foundation is "committed to the empowerment and development of urban youth in the United States. The Foundation's vision serves as an inspiration for equality, opportunity and hope among youth in underserved communities."
For more information, visit CommonGroundFoundation.org.
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AllHipHop Reports
With Nas confirming and celebrating his first son’s birth during a performance in Queensbridge earlier this week, Kelis has disclosed her own official statement on the child’s delivery.
Representatives for the singer confirmed that Knight arrived healthy with no complications, despite a long labor period.
"Kelis gave birth to Knight Jones last night on July 22nd around 9PM,” stated publicist Tracy Nguyen. “Weighing a healthy 7.8lbs, the beautiful baby boy and his mother are doing wonderful. This was a natural birth and Kelis has been in labor since early Monday morning around 2AM.”
A normally joyous occasion had been marred by reports that Kelis barred Nas from seeing the birth of his son.
While the supposed ban was not confirmed nor denied, Kelis’ representatives did verify the Queensbridge legend was not present.
“Knight was delivered in a NYC hospital with her mother and sister in the room,” Nguyen stated. “This is the mother's first child.”
Kelis and Nas were scheduled to attend a court hearing regarding their divorce, which was filed by Kelis back in April 2009.
Recently, lawyers for both parties have been disputing matters of spousal and child support, along with Nas’ current income wages.
Lawyers for Kelis claim Nas has made over $11 million courtesy of his lucrative 2006 Def Jam contract, and request the rapper pay upwards to $20,000 a month in child and spousal support.
Attorney’s for Nas argue that those income figures are grossly inflated, and request the singer only receive a child support stipend of $5000 monthly, and involve the rapper fully in the child’s raising.
At press time, a rescheduled court date hearing is pending.
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A few Tuesday’s ago (May, 19th to be exact) we saw album releases from Busta Rhymes, Method Man & Redman, & of course, Eminem. This was so far the biggest release date of 2009. All three acts that I mentioned are veterans in the game and well respected by their peers. Another thing they have in common: They’re all over the age of 30. If you think about it, most of Hip-Hop’s elite are over the age of 30. I guess it’s no longer a young man’s game. So I was thinking, since you see a lot of lists with titles such as “25 Hottest Celebs Under 25” or “40 Richest Under 40”, why not The Best 30 Rappers Over 30? But for this list, we got set some ground rules. #1 of course is the most obvious; you gotta be over the age of 30 (That throws out people like Weezy, Lupe, Drake, & T.I.). #2, you have to be 30 as of this list (Both The Game & Joe Budden will be 30 this year, but aren’t as of yet). #3, you got to be active and releasing records with new material that relevant (Rakim & Big Daddy Kane are legends but they don’t make this list). Other than that, the only requirement is being 3-0 or older. So, here’s it: The Best 30 Rappers Over 30 (Ordered from oldest to youngest). 30 is the new 20! Did I forget anybody?
Ice Cube (June 15, 1969) - 39
Jay-Z (December 4, 1969) - 39
Raekwon (January 12, 1970) – 39
Q-Tip (April 10, 1970) - 39
Redman (April 17, 1970) - 39
Ghostface Killah (May 9, 1970) - 39
Fat Joe (August 19, 1970) - 38
Scarface (November 9, 1970) - 38
DMX (December 18, 1970) - 38
Method Man (April 1, 1971) - 38
Snoop Dogg (October 20, 1971) – 37
Common (March 13, 1972) - 37
Busta Rhymes (May 20, 1972) - 37
Black Thought (October 3, 1972) - 36
Eminem (October 17, 1972) - 36
Bun B (March 19, 1973) - 36
Nas (September 14, 1973) - 35
Mos Def (December 11, 1973) - 35
Andre 3000 (May 27, 1974) - 35
Styles P (November 28, 1974) - 34
Big Boi (February 1, 1975) - 34
Jadakiss (May 27, 1975) - 34
50 Cent (July 6, 1975) - 33
Talib Kweli (October 3, 1975) - 33
Rick Ross (January 28, 1976) - 33
Cam’ron (February 4, 1976) - 33
Kanye West (June 8, 1977) - 31
Ludacris (September 11, 1977) - 31
Young Jeezy (October 12, 1977)- 31
Fabolous (November 18, 1977) - 31
Source:NappyAfro.com
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