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FAST FACTS:
*Approximately 90 students at Frayser High School are pregnant or have recently given birth

*The startling numbers fall in line with high teen pregnancy rates in the entire Frayser community

*A new initiative to help combat the problem will soon be introduced

About 90 students at a Memphis High School are either pregnant, or have been recently.

The startling news was confirmed by a high ranking city official and comes as the community plans to roll out a new initiative to help combat the problem.

However, one Frayser High School graduate says teen pregnancy is not a new problem for the school.

"When we would come back from summer break, there would be a thousand people pregnant. We were like, what's going on?" joked Alicia Williamson, who graduated from Frayser in 2004.

"There were a whole lot of bellies. You had to watch out so you didn't bump into them. Being 2011, I thought a lot of them would have thought this is not the right way to go, having babies during school time," she added.

The organization, Girls, Inc. teaches girls about preventing pregnancy.

Deborah Hester Harrison, who heads the organization, says Memphis' teen pregnancy rate stands at between 15 and 20 percent, almost twice the national average.

In the Frayser zip code, the rate is about 26 percent. Harrison partly blames the media.

"So much of our society is sexually oriented. As adults we can look at that and it doesn't impact us, but kids are different," Harrison said.

It's why Girls, Inc. offers classes where teenage girls "care for" computerized babies to give them a feel for what teenage parenthood is like.

The organization will also be part of a new initiative tentatively scheduled to be introduced next week.

Source: The Chicago Tribune

Local News Report

Associated Press Report

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The based god has officially planted roots in New York City.

Lil B played his second sold out show in New York in the last several months. The West Coast rapper packed Santos Party House back in July.  Last night he had the Highline Ballroom rocking.

This wasn't a concert, it was more like king being welcomed home. This man's fans are beyond dedicated.

One fan offered to let Lil B f*ck his mom, and for that he was knighted by the based god.

Another fan literally gave B his woman to do whatever he pleases.

"He kissed my b*tch on stage, I'mma let him f*ck her tonight," said the fan. "You can f*ck my mom, my sister, I love you son. Peace to the world.......swag."

What in the hell is going on? This isn't a movement, it's a cult! Hip Hop's 1st cult, lol.

I can't do anything but congratulate Lil B though, hating would be uncivilized.

Fan literally gives his girlfriend to Lil B to f*ck

Lil B "knights" fan after fan says he can f*ck his mother!

Lil B plays sold out show at New York's Highline Ballroom

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"They know what he did, but they don't know why he did it"  50 Cent - Funeral Music

As the dust continues to settle following the internet uproar over Gucci Mane's new face tattoo. The man who did the handiwork says you shouldn't expect to see him doing any more elaborate face tats.

Shane Willoughby of Atlanta's 10th Street Tattoo told Vibe that Gucci knew what he wanted and was determined to get it done.

"I was like 'Are you sure you want to put that much [ink] in that area? He came straight to the counter and that's where he pointed," Willoughby said "When he said he wanted to do the ice cream thing I said 'Well why don't we do it somewhere else?' But he was like I don't have anywhere else."

Some have suggested Gucci wasn't in his right mind when he got the work done. He was recently given a mental health evaluation as part of his probation violation case. Gucci has also been known to smoke a joint or two, but Willoughby said the rapper was 100% sober.

"I won't tattoo anybody if their [drunk] or high because I can't stand the smell of weed... [Gucci] seemed completely sober. He knew what he was doing." the tattoo artist insisted.

That he got a tattoo of an ice cream cone is not all that surprising when you really think about about it. The 1017 Brick Squad CEO has a diamond encrusted cone chain around his neck. And fans recognize his signature "Brrr" from his songs and mixtapes. Buy why the lightning bolts coming out of the top?

"He said 'I want something rock 'n roll.' There's nothing more rock 'n roll then lightening bolts," Willoughby explains. "I don't think I'll ever do [that] again... no matter how successful [the celebrity]." Willoughby says of the face art.

At the end of the day though, the tattoo artist says Gucci was very happy with the work, "He was stoked. Had no regrets... was jumping up and down. That's the way he rolls."

Gucci's spokesperson Kali Bowyer, told Rolling Stone the image is "a reminder to fans of how he chooses to live his life. Cool as ice. As in 'I'm so icy, I'll make ya say Brr.'

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SODMG and MBB link up for this trunk rattler.

Soulja Boy, Trav and Tory Lanez all do their thing

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Maliah Michel is a fast rising urban model.

Last week, her stretching video caught our eye. Now she's back covering the latest edition of BlackMen Magazine looking as good as ever.

Maliah is one to keep an eye on for sure in 2011.

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The lovely and very talented Olivia Munn paid a visit to The Late Show With David Letterman recently.

The 30-year old Oklahoma native talked about living in Japan as a kid, then moving back and feeling like a social outcast and how her parents divorce affected her.

She just landed a role on the NBC show "Perfect Couples" which premiers January 20. She said she will still occasionally stop by The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

At the end of the interview Olivia tried to sing "Crossroads" by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, but that didn't turn out too well because Paul Shaffer and the band had no clue what the hell the song was.  She needs to visit the Jimmy Fallon show next so The Roots band can hook that up properly.

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T, were going to find out what it means to a handful of actors Aretha Franklin wants to play roles in a movie about her life.

The Queen Of Soul wants Halle Berry to portray a young Aretha in the film based on her autobiography, "Aretha: From These Roots."

The 68-year old singer also wants Denzel Washington to portray her father, C.L. Franklin and Terrance Howard to play the role of a young Smokey Robinson.

Terrance Howard

A press release sent out by Franklin says says the actors in question are, "enthusiastic about the project and have agreed to take on these roles, subject to further negotiation." adding that Denzel, "was very interested in the role," and Franklin "also had a very positive response from her in-person conversations with Terrence Howard and others."

Denzel Washington

Franklin's career has spanned nearly 45 years. In that time she has earned 20 Grammys. In 1987 she became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Franklin had a recent health scare recently, but she told Wendy Williams yesterday by phone that her health was "superb."

She also told Wendy that she has her eye on singer R. Kelly. Aretha loves Kels new song "When A Woman Loves" so much that she says if he isn't careful she might become a "cougar"

R. Kelly

Gotta love hearing Aretha Franklin joking and sounding like she's in such good spirits.

Check out her call-in to Wendy Williams below.

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It’s been a while since we’ve heard from 50 Cent. But the brand-building actor slash business magnate is back in the studio, sounding out new beats and mulling the future of music.

Behind the façade of beaches and boutiques, the celebrity hotspots and million-dollar lofts, Santa Monica, California, has a secret history of warfare. During World War II, this city by the Pacific was home to the American aeronautics industry and played an integral role in keeping the US war machine running. Here, engineers and designers drew up the plans for fighter planes, while welders and construction crews made them into reality.

Sixty years later, the airplane hangers and warehouse buildings no longer bustle with the activity of warplane builders. The creative industry has now taken over these expansive complexes, turning them into movie and music studios, perhaps in the hope that they can channel the innovation and work ethic that once teemed under these thick wood rafters and curved roofs.

Somewhere inside a huge warehouse dating back to 1959, the inimitable rapper, actor, and entrepreneur Curtis James Jackson III, aka 50 Cent, is in the studio debuting beats that will be the skeletal structure of his next album.

Two dark black Cadillac Escalades wait like club bouncers outside the door of the Red Bull Recording Studio, and inside, the bass is quaking. Jackson and his team sit in the control room, behind a state-of-the-art mixing desk, compressors, speakers and all manner of cables. A stony-faced man in jeans and suit jacket sits on the couch, while Jackson is pleading the case for his beats.

It has been a year of relative radio silence for Jackson and nearly a year since his much delayed last album, Before I Self Destruct, hit the streets last November. Other than a handful of remixes and cameos, the rapper has largely stayed off the media radar. While other rappers have been dropping pretentious art films (Kanye), scripting prison communiques (Lil’ Wayne), or waxing literary on book tours (Jay-Z), Jackson has been developing his film career and perfecting his sound to come.

50 Cent consigned his 'Black Magic' to "the vault" as he says he only made it "recreationally", and is now working on something brand new.

"I moved 'Black Magic', because it's a total artist's album. It was something that I just wanted to do, so I went in and recreationally made a full-bodied piece of work.  I gave myself a new concept, so now it's in the vault." he says.

Some aspects of the album may, however, appear on the 'Baby By Me' hitmaker's next disc, as he added: "But you can build another album out of that material that you put to the side."

50 also said the way he approaches making music has changed dramatically since he first rose to fame in 2002, because he is now aiming for his worldwide audience, rather than his old neighbourhood of Queens in New York.

He added: "It's not a long drawn-out process for me to create it, but it's a long drawn-out process deciding what to offer the world. When I was making music initially, it was just for a 10 block radius, now it's for the world."

For the full story pick up the January Red Bulletin Magazine

Sources:  Red Bulletin and  Contact Music

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Is Shyne a gangster? Or is he a devout religious man? Is he going to be rapping about bussin guns or reading from The Tanakh?

He seems to be as confused about where his career is headed as we are.

Since his October 2009 release from prison and subsequent banishment to his native Belize, the rapper has sent mixed signals about his career and lifestyle choices.

Upon his release Shyne, born Jamal Barrow signed a hefty deal with Def Jam Records and immediately started making diss records aimed at 50 Cent.

All of the disses were widely regarded as trash by hip hop heads. His once distinctive flow was gone, he sounded more like a bitter old man than a hungry rapper.

50 thought so little of the diss tracks he didn't bother responding on record. He did however make a hilarious video clowning Shyne on a Def Jam conference call.

Since then, months have passed and there has been no new music from Shyne, who has legally changed his name to Moshe Levi Ben-David, to reflect his Jewish faith.

Now word is, Shyne has left Belize and moved to Jerusalem, where he is on a "spiritual journey."

Sporting a shaved head and characteristic sidecurls of an ultra-Orthodox Jew, the rapper told ABC News he has 5 albums finished that are heavily influenced by his spiritual journey.

"I am not ashamed of the mistakes I have made. I'm not ashamed of where I was in order to get to where I am. "Moshe Levi has a great impact on the music that Shyne makes." he said.

But seriously, where is the music dude? And is there anybody left that still wants to hear it?

50 Cent Clowning Shyne On Def Jam Conference Call

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Tattoos and entertainers seem to go hand in hand. Birdman has several stars on his dome, Lil Wayne's face is practically covered with artwork, but Gucci Mane may have just taken the crown for the most distinctive tat ever for a hip hop artist.

Gucci paid Atlanta tattoo and piercing artist Shane Willoughby to put a tat of a 3 scoop ice cream cone, with his trademark "Brr" and a red lightning bolt on his face.

What inspired the tattoo? That's the answer we're all dying to hear.

What do yall make of Gucci's new tat?

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https://www.youtube.com/v/fzWG1o_EETQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&hd=1","allowfullscreen":"true";" /> 

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TAMPA — A rape suspect and his alleged victim faced each other in a Hillsborough courtroom Tuesday and debated the details of the encounter that led them there.

Luis Munuzuri-Harris, 31, was on trial, accused of posing as a cop to pull over and rape a 28-year-old woman along Bayshore Boulevard. He'd chosen to represent himself, meaning that he, not a defense attorney, got to cross-examine the woman.

In a justice system where the defendant has a right to remain silent and where rape victims are delicately approached, it was an unusual exchange.

"What made you pull over?" Harris asked her.

"You," she responded. "You flagged me down. I thought maybe I may have hit you."

"When this person walks up to your car," he asked, "do you get out of your car?"

She locked eyes with his.

"When you walk up to my vehicle," she said.

"Do you recall telling a detective I was 6-2, heavy and fat?" he asked. She responded, "You are heavy and fat."

Defendant Luis Munuzuri-Harris watches as prosecutor Jennifer Johnson examines evidence including an ATM receipt from a Wachovia ATM during Harris' rape trial Wednesday. Luis Munuzuri-Harris, 31, will continue to act as his own attorney as testimony continues

So it went for more than two hours — him asking her detailed questions of the night she said she was raped, trying to show conflicts in her testimony; her remaining calm, talking back.

This was her testimony for prosecutor Jennifer Johnson:

She was headed to work the night of July 29 when she saw a blue light and a man waving her over. Harris told her she was swerving, asked for her license and said he was taking her to Orient Road Jail. He told her he was an undercover narcotics officer, handcuffed her and put her in the back seat of his Chevy Impala, which she assumed was an unmarked police car.

Luis Munuzuri-Harris

But then, he got lost. That's when she said she realized he wasn't a cop.

He took her to an ATM, saying it was so she could withdraw bail money, she testified.

This guy is going to kill me, she remembered thinking.

But he didn't. Instead, she said, after he visited two banks, he drove back to where she had left her car, joined her in the back seat and raped her. She said she cooperated but cried.

"I was feeling mad," she told the prosecutor. "I was feeling stupid, that I could be naive enough to believe he was a cop."

On cross-examination, Harris pressed her about conflicts in her previous accounts.

"I tried to block you out of my memory," she told him.

Harris asked whether she had taken Ambien that day. She had, along with four medications she takes for kidney problems and lupus.

He played a 911 tape in which she spoke calmly and her uncle did not mention rape until about four minutes into the call.

Her uncle, whom she lives with, said he didn't think she wanted to talk about it. He admitted that he initially found her story hard to believe.

But Harris' DNA was found inside her. His explanation is that she hit a curb, he rendered aid, they went to a bar. He said they had consensual sex.

Some of his first words to the jury during opening statements: "I'm not a monster."

But the woman made her point clear as she continued to lock eyes with her alleged attacker:

"I was raped," she said, "by you. You forced sex upon me."

Circuit Judge Chet A. Tharpe scolded Harris repeatedly after he asked improper questions and took lengthy pauses to read from a deposition.

"I don't know if this is some type of a ploy on your behalf to keep the victim on the stand as long as you can," he said, "in an attempt to break her."

The drama stretched beyond the cross-examination of the woman. It lasted all day.

After lunch, Harris made a vague announcement about potential trial-stopping information. Harris' mother accused a juror of sharing his opinions about the case with the panel, which if proven would have been misconduct.

The judge questioned each juror and found that the mother misinterpreted a question the juror asked a bailiff.

But in front of the jury, Harris announced a future request for a mistrial. Tharpe's face tightened. The judge said Harris could do whatever he wanted to do. That motion, police testimony and more will unfold as the trial continues today.

Source:  TampaBay.com

Victim being questioned by accused rapist

Additional news coverage and questioning of rape victim

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Sony Corp., the company that brought us the Walkman and the parent company of music label Sony Music Entertainment, plans to shut down a CD-manufacturing plant in southern New Jersey in March.

About 300 employees will be laid off once the 50-year-old Sony DADC plant in Pitman, N.J., is closed. Sony said it plans to shift CD-making operations to a facility in Indiana. The company moved DVD manufacturing from the plant about a year ago.

Lisa Gephardt, a Sony spokeswoman said in a statement: "In light of the current economic environment and challenges facing the physical media industry, Sony DADC is taking additional steps to reduce cost from our supply chain network in order to remain competitive."

Who couldn't see these kinds of closures coming? The music CD has become nearly a relic. The emergence of digital music and music players, as well as the rise of illegal file sharing, helped to hasten the demise of the CD as the main music distribution format.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, U.S. music sales fell 2.4 percent last year and digital track sales grew only 1 percent to 1.17 billion. But CD sales fared far worse. When it came to albums, sales of both newer CDs and catalog titles dropped by 16 percent and 23 percent respectively--these two categories also saw double-digit losses the previous year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The CD was a boon for the record industry. Not only did record labels cash in when music buyers replaced their cassette tapes and vinyl records with discs, but the CD also helped prevent unauthorized copying--at least initially. CDs also discouraged people from buying singles, prompting them to purchase full albums instead.

The plant closure is just another sign that physical media's days are numbered. In addition to music, the film and book industries are amid their own digital transformations. Netflix and Apple are helping to fuel the emergence of Web TV. The Kindle and iPad are helping to drive consumer interest in e-books. How far this goes is anybody's guess but one has to wonder how long printed books and DVDs will be with us.

Source:  CNET

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