Jay-Z and Lil Wayne highlighted a memorable evening of performances at last night’s (june 28) BET Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, a night in which the “King of Pop” was celebrated above all else.
Weezy, who took home the statue for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist, closed the show alongside his Young Money crew with “Every Girl.” Toronto affiliate Drake kicked off the medley with his breakthrough “Best I Ever Had,” resigning himself to a stool due to a knee injury which prevented a more open performance.
Hov hit the stage earlier in the evening for the lead single from his eagerly-awaited Blueprint 3, “D.O.A. [Death of Autotune],” the video for which debuted after the awards ceremony. Wife Beyonce was just a number of R&B performers on the night, most of whom paying tribute to Michael Jackson, including host Jamie Foxx – who wore an assortment of signature MJ outfits – New Edition, Ne-Yo, and Ciara. A shaken Janet Jackson, who was in attendance with her father Joseph, took the stage to represent her family and address her brother’s passing.
Another notable moment included Soulja Boy’s performance of his hit “Turn My Swag On.” SB walked off into the audience to give Kanye West a pound during the crowd favorite.
Along with Weezy, other rappers who went home with awards included M.I.A. for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist and T.I. for Viewers’ Choice for his #1 hit, “Live Your Life.”
Source: XXLRead more…
A scene in the upcoming comedy Bruno featuring Michael Jackson's sister La Toya has been permanently deleted from the film.
In a statement, Universal, the studio behind the movie, says, "Out of respect for the Jackson family, the filmmakers have decided to remove a small scene involving La Toya Jackson." Bruno opens on July 10.
After Michael Jackson's death was reported yesterday, actor Sacha Baron Cohen and the makers Bruno scrambled to delete the scene just before the film's premiere at Mann's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles.
The scene, which had previously been seen by journalists, found Baron Cohen's Bruno -- a wildly gay, fame-seeking Austrian fashionista -- snagging an interview with La Toya.
Ms. Jackson, who did not appear to be in on the joke, gamely tried to answer Bruno's questions even as he interrogated her about her brother Michael and tried surreptitiously to find Michael's number on her cellphone.
The scene ended, as most things in Bruno's world do, with a moment of raw, funny discomfort.
Source : Entertainment WeeklyRead more…
A "severely emaciated" Michael Jackson weighed just over 8 stone (112 lbs) and was disfigured and virtually bald after years of physical abuse, according to leaked results from an official autopsy.
Details from the post-mortem carried out on Friday by Los Angeles County's Chief Medical Examiner were carried today in The Sun, which reported how the star's face was a mass of scars from 13 cosmetic operations.
The Sun said that the bridge of Jackson's nose had disappeared and the right side had caved in. It also reported unexplained bruises on his knees and shins and bruising to his back suggesting a recent fall.
The newspaper said that the only thing pathologists found in the star's stomach were partially dissolved pills, which were removed for toxicology tests.
The experts also found that several of Jackson's ribs had been broke as paramedics tried to revive the 50-year-old singer after he collapsed at his rented mansion in Belair on Thursday. There were also signs of four adrenaline jabs administered directly to his heart during the failed resuscitation.
A source close to the Jackson entourage told the newspaper: "He was skin and bone, his hair had fallen out and he had been eating nothing but pills when he died. Injection marks all over his body and the disfigurement caused by years of plastic surgery show he'd been in terminal decline for years."
The autopsy leaks emerged as Jackson's family went on the offensive, vowing to fight for control of his estate and three children and voicing concerns over the circumstances of his death.
After days of uncoordinated statements by family advisers and lawyers, Jackson's parents, Joe and Katherine, announced last night that they had sole "personal and legal authority" to act on behalf of their son. They also announced the appoint of Londell McMillan, an entertainment lawyer, as the family's designated spokesman.
McMillan swiftly told CNN that Mr and Mrs Jackson were seeking to secure custody of the late singer's three children and revealed that the family had not yet been granted access to the pop icon’s will.
Mr McMillan also said the family was “closely watching” the progress of the official investigation into Jackson’s death. The family has already hired a private pathologist to carry out a second autopsy.
Asked about the fate of Jackson’s three children -- born to two different mothers -- McMillan said that their grandmother Katherine - who has been looking after them since their father's death - would seek custody, raising the possibility of a bitter legal battle.
“She will seek custody of the children. She loves them dearly,” he said. “They’re in a loving environment. She’s a great grandma. I couldn’t think of anyone better for these children than a grandma like Miss Katherine Jackson and the loving support of family of the Jacksons."
Mr McMillan also revealed the family had not yet seen Jackson’s will, and was uncertain if one existed. If Jackson had not left a will his assets would go to his next of kin under California law, he said.
“If there’s no will then under the state of California it goes to the next of kin, that’s an adult administering and overseeing for the best interests of the children ...,” the lawyer said.
After Friday's official autopsy, officials ruled out foul play in the star's death, but Jackson family members have continued to question the role played by Jackson's personal doctor, Conrad Murray, in his final hours. Joe Jackson, the 79-year-old family patriarch, said last night that he still had "a lot of concerns".
LA police conducted a second interview with Dr Murray on Saturday but cleared him of any criminal wrongdoing, his lawyer's said.
The 51-year-old has faced intense speculation amid reports that he injected Jackson with the potent prescription painkiller Demerol just before he died but Dr Murray's lawyer said yesterday that reports of an injection were “absolutely false,” the first time the allegation has been denied.
“There was no Demerol. No OxyContin,” Edward Chernoff told the Los Angeles Times, adding that Dr Murray had discovered Jackson unconscious in the bedroom of his home.
Source : Times OnlineRead more…
50 Cent continues to release music almost everyday. Today a new track "Suicide Watch" hit the net while yesterday "Im Paranoid" became available. Both tracks are from the G-Unit general's upcoming "Forever King" mixtape.http://www.rapbasement.com/audio/50-cent-suicide-watch.htmlhttp://www.rapbasement.com/audio/50-cent-im-paranoid.html
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Bobby Lashley fought with brains and brawn, and Bob Sapp could not keep up in the featured bout at Fight Force International “Ultimate Chaos.”
The unbeaten Lashley took down Sapp in the opening seconds and grinded away with ground-and-pound until the larger-than-life Pride Fighting Championships and K-1 veteran tapped out to strikes 3:17 into round one on Saturday at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Miss.
Lashley (4-0), who promised to fight Sapp standing in the pre-fight buildup, instead took the more intelligent route to victory.
“Going out there against somebody like Bob, you’ve got to be prepared,” Lashley said. “I just wanted to get him down. I had to go out there take him down, cover him up, keep him flat and pound on him. That was our gameplan. You’ve got to wear the big man down. We’ve got other matches where we can test our stand-up.”
Lashley’s blows from the top position, more of a nuisance to start, grew in intensity and reached their peak with winging punches to the side of Sapp’s head. The hulking 36-year-old, who outweighed the 255-pound Lashley by nearly 70 pounds, actually tapped out twice, seconds apart. The referee did not see the first submission but halted the action when Sapp (10-5-1) back-handed the mat and asked out of the fight for a second time.
Anchored at American Top Team, Lashley has finished three of his first four professional opponents. The former World Wrestling Entertainment superstar plans to fight twice more in 2009.
The co-main event lasted little more than two minutes, and it did not go well for UFC veteran Pedro Rizzo.
After an early takedown and some brief, ineffective ground-and-pound from Rizzo (16-9), Gilbert Yvel retruned to his feet and unleashed a hellacious flurry of ill-intentioned strikes, including a looping left hook and glancing head kick that wobbled his foe. The Brazilian fell into the meat grinder on the ground after a failed shot. Yvel (36-13-1, 1 NC) -- the controversial Dutch striker who has been disqualified three times in his career -- landed several crushing blows to Rizzo’s jaw, the last two of which came after he was clearly unconscious, the referee standing by idly. The match was over 2:10 after it began.
Having delivered 31 of his 36 victories by knockout or technical knockout, Yvel will face Paul Buentello at Affliction “Trilogy” on Aug. 1. A frightening physical specimen, he has posted eight wins in his last nine appearances.
In an impromptu featherweight scrap, Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Javier Vazquez made painfully quick work of Mark Kergosien -- a last-minute replacement for UFC veteran Din Thomas.
Kergosien pushed into the clinch and worked for a takedown in the opening seconds; it was a decision he would live to regret. Vazquez calmly drew him into a guillotine choke and locked it down in full guard. Kergosian (0-1) made a feeble attempt to free himself but wound up on the bottom, Vazquez’s grip tightening around his neck. The tapout followed 59 seconds into round one. Vazquez was visibly disappointed by Thomas’ inability to compete.
“I trained real hard for Din,” Vazquez said. “It’s unfortunate. It happened. Maybe we can make that fight happen down the road.”
A four-time U.S. Open Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion, Vazquez (13-2) -- who announced his retirement in 2007 after his second appearance for EliteXC -- put the 145-pound division on notice.
“I’m back,” he said. “This is my weight class. At 145, there are very few guys who can touch me at this weight.”
Meanwhile, one-time International Fight League cornerstone Chris Horodecki chipped away with persistence in his lightweight showdown with William Sriyapai.
Not known for his ground skills, Horodecki notched the first submission victory of his career, as he cinched a rear-naked choke for the tapout against the former muay Thai world champion. Horodecki took down Sriyapai inside the first minute, secured back control with hooks in and waited for an opportunity to present itself. After several minutes on the ground, Sriyapai exposed his neck, and Horodecki finished it. The end came 4:02 into round one.
Horodecki (13-1), who had not competed in more than a year, posted his second straight win since his brutal technical knockout loss to Ryan Schultz in December 2007.
Elsewhere, Affliction frontman Tom Atencio weathered a harrowing start to his first appearance in the cage in more than four years and stopped Randy Hedderick by second-round technical knockout.
Hedderick (1-1) rocked Atencio with a pair of first-round right hands, but his inability to finish wound up biting him in the rear. The 25-year-old Gulf Port, Miss., resident allowed Atencio to regain his faculties and push the fight into a second round.
Atencio, 42, rose to the occasion in the second period, as he scored early with a beautiful leg sweep takedown. He brought Hedderick to the ground again late in the round and blasted away with punches from the top. Bleeding heavily from his nose, Hedderick did not come out for round three.
“Anybody that steps into this ring, I’ve got a lot of respect for,” Atencio (2-0) said. “Win, lose or draw, at least he had the balls to get in here.”
Finally, King of the Cage veteran Waachiim Spiritwolf stunned Brett Cooper, as he dropped him with a ringing right hook in the first round and finished him with strikes on the ground 3:41 into their match. Cooper (9-5) rose immediately to his feet after absorbing the beating and staggered around the cage, seemingly unaware that he had been short-circuited by Spiritwolf’s punches. The defeat snapped his six-fight winning streak.
“I said, if he didn’t take me serious, it was going to be a real short night for Brett Cooper,” Spiritwolf (6-4) said. “That’s what happened.”
Other Bouts
Colin McKee def. Lance Thompson -- Submission (Strikes) 4:16 R1
Brandon Harder def. John Harris -- Submission (Arm-Triangle) 4:31 R2
James Orso def. Danny Abbadi -- Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Drew Wallace def. Eric Graham -- TKO (Strikes) 4:02 R2
Rocky Overstreet def. Greg Maher -- Submission (Kimura) 2:08 R1
Jonathan Mackles def. Shilo Pisarich -- Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 2:29 R2
Source: SherdogRead more…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A gun-toting Kentucky pastor says it's OK to bring weapons to church — at least for one day.
Ken Pagano asked his flock to bring their unloaded handguns — in holsters — to New Bethel Church in Louisville for a celebration of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Consitution that guarantees the right to bear arms.
More than 200 people answered his call. There was just one rule for the several dozen who brought their guns along: No bullets.
"We are wanting to send a message that there are legal, civil, intelligent and law-abiding citizens who also own guns," Pagano said during the 90-minute event, which was open to the public. "If it were not for a deep-seated belief in the right to bear arms, this country would not be here today," he told the crowd, drawing hearty applause and exclamations of "Amen!"
The "Open Carry Celebration" included a handgun raffle, patriotic music and screening of gun safety videos. Some gun owners carried old-fashioned six-shooters in leather holsters, while others packed modern police-style firearms. Kentucky allows residents to openly carry guns in public with some restrictions.
"I just believe in the right to protect ourselves," said Liz Boyer, who had a bright pink Glock in a black holster at her side. The 41-year-old isn't a member of the church but teaches a class on gun safety for women at a local range.
Brittany Rogers, 23, feared guns as a child. But her fiance encouraged her to go sport shooting with him about a year ago, and she said she has been hooked ever since. On Saturday, she brought her tiny Kel-Tec P-32 to church.
"It was a fear of the unknown," Rogers said, "but now I love it."
Pagano's Protestant church, which attracts up to 150 people to Sunday services in a conservative neighborhood of southwest Louisville, belongs to the Assemblies of God. He thought up the event after some church members expressed concern about members of President Barack Obama administration's views on gun control, though the president hasn't moved to put new restrictions on ownership.
Across town, a coalition of peace and church groups concerned about Pagano's appeal to gun owners staged their own gun-free event.
Source : MSNBCRead more…
Michael Jackson and nanny Grace Rwaramba along with two of his children
The nanny who became “mother” to Michael Jackson’s three children has told how she regularly had to pump his stomach to remove dangerous cocktails of drugs.
Grace Rwaramba, 42, who flew from London to Los Angeles yesterday in the hope of being reunited with his children, has given a graphic account of the singer’s increasingly desperate final months.
She paints a grim picture of Jackson, sometimes penniless but deluded about his “riches”, leading a nomadic life, moving from country to country and hotel to hotel, before allegedly falling under the increasing influence of the Nation of Islam, the extremist sect.
“There was one period that it was so bad that I didn’t let the children see him . . . He always ate too little and mixed too much.”
The nanny says she once called in the singer’s mother, Katherine, and sister, Janet, to attempt an “intervention”, trying to persuade the singer to come to terms with his addiction. Instead Jackson turned on her, accusing her of betraying him. “He didn’t want to listen; that was one of the times he let me go,” she said.
Rwaramba, who is from Rwanda, worked for Jackson for more than a decade, starting as an office assistant before becoming nanny to his children, Michael Jr, known as Prince, aged 12; Paris, 11; and Prince Michael II, 7, nicknamed Blanket to distinguish him from his brother.
She was dismissed for a final time last December but still went back to see the children. When she visited them in April she claims Jackson was so hard up she had to buy “happy birthday” balloons for Paris on her own credit card.
On a previous occasion he had sent her to Florence to buy antiques for $1m. “We didn’t even have a home to live in. So we had to put the antiques in storage,” she said.
Yesterday an official with the Los Angeles police revealed the singer had become “heavily addicted” to the powerful painkiller OxyContin and had received an injection of Demerol, another painkiller, an hour before his death. It is now almost certain the police will begin a full investigation into the singer’s death and that Rwaramba will be regarded as a witness. Coroners in the case said yesterday there was no suspicion of foul play but toxicology tests would take several weeks.
One theory is that Jackson was taking an increasing amount of drugs to combat the stress of his forthcoming 50 concerts at the O2 in London. The nanny said: “Fifty performances! I told him . . . what are you doing? He said ‘I signed only for 10’. He didn’t know what he was signing. He never did.”
Detectives have made contact with Dr Conrad Robert Murray, a cardiologist who was with Jackson at his rented mansion when he died, and have made clear they want to interview him. Police denied a report that they also want to talk to a second doctor.
Police will also want to know whether early CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) efforts to save the singer’s life were botched. On a tape of conversations between the Jackson home and the ambulance service, one of Jackson’s staff tells the dispatcher that Jackson is on the bed and that a “doctor is here”, meaning Murray.
Medical experts say it is usual for the patient to be on a hard surface because it is difficult to compress the chest on a soft surface. The operator told the caller to “get him on the floor”. A car towed by police from Jackson’s home is registered in the name of Murray’s sister in Texas.
Rwaramba claims the Nation of Islam, the sect that had become increasingly prominent in Jackson’s life, told him it cost $100,000 (£60,000) a month to rent the mansion, but she believes similar properties were on the market for no more than $25,000 a month.
The sect has supplied bodyguards to the singer and allegedly intimidated auction houses that were selling Jackson memorabilia.
“Michael had no idea about money,” Rwaramba said. “He got a proposal to make an appearance in Japan for $1m . . . By the time everyone took their share, he ended up with $200,000.” At one stage Jackson and his entourage flew economy class to Germany. One of the worst periods was after Jackson was acquitted following a five-month trial in 2005 on charges of sexually abusing a boy during sleepovers at his Neverland ranch.
Jackson, Rwaramba and the children went to Bahrain as guests of Sheikh Abdullah, a son of the king, who hoped to make a CD with the singer.
People there described yesterday how they sometimes saw Jackson walking through a mall, his frail body draped in a woman’s abaya, or robe, which covered part of the face. He drew a crowd since he did not walk like a woman.
When the singer and the sheikh fell out, Jackson and his family moved to Ireland to stay with friends of Rwaramba and then in a small house in New Jersey where Jackson slept in a downstairs room while she and the children shared a bedroom.
When Jackson did have money, he hid it in black rubbish sacks and under the carpets at the Los Angeles house. Rwaramba says Katherine Jackson rang her in London at 7am on Friday to ask where the money was, possibly to stop it being stolen.
Sources close to the Jacksons yesterday told the TMZ entertainment website, which broke the news of his death, that the children would stay with their grandmother and grandfather Joe at the family home in Encino, California.
They said: “We’re told the family is 100% behind this - feeling that Katherine and Joe Jackson are the only people who can help the children understand who their father was, help them grieve, and teach them to deal with life in the spotlight.”
Source : Times OnlineRead more…
Over the past five months Michelle Obama has basked in some of the most flattering reviews ever earned by an American first lady. Yet the first stirrings of discontent are beginning to surface as President Barack Obama’s wife emerges from her newly installed White House vegetable garden in search of a meatier political role.
Reports last week that she is seeking to expand her influence in her husband’s administration set alarm bells ringing among Democratic veterans.
Despite denials from White House officials that Michelle Obama is suffering from “Hillary-itis” — a burning desire to help her husband run the country — her long-running interest in healthcare has raised painful memories of 1994, when Hillary Clinton presided over a political debacle as her health reform proposals collapsed in Congress.
As a Harvard-educated lawyer and a former hospital administrator from Chicago, Michelle Obama has been dealing with the shortcomings of US healthcare for much of the past decade.
Instead she has emerged as a fashion icon, a model mother and a symbol of African-American achievement. The angry black woman who once suggested she had not been proud of her country until her husband ran for president has since been hailed as the most glamorous first lady since Jackie Kennedy.
To the astonishment of Republicans, who regarded her as a potential liability to her husband’s campaign last year, her approval ratings have consistently outstripped her husband’s.
Yet Democratic insiders have long suspected that Michelle Obama was ill-equipped for a background role as a dutiful spouse. “You know when she was happiest during the election?” asked one party strategist. “When Barack had to go back to Hawaii for his dying mother and Michelle took over his campaign.”
Earlier this month she caused a minor stir in party circles when she abruptly replaced her White House chief of staff after only four months in the job.
Jackie Norris, 37, had been Barack Obama’s campaign co-ordinator in the early primary state of Iowa and had apparently hit it off with his wife. But Norris later fell out with Desiree Rogers, a Chicago businesswoman and close friend to Obama who had become the White House social secretary.
When Norris was quietly shipped off to a different job, Michelle Obama turned to Susan Sher, 61, another old friend and her former boss at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Sher told The Washington Post last week that her first move as Michelle’s new chief of staff was to tell David Axelrod, the president’s senior adviser, that he needed to return her calls immediately.
Since Sher took over, Michelle Obama has become perceptibly more vocal about healthcare and community issues. Last week she visited San Francisco to launch a summer volunteer programme.
She also sent an e-mail to millions of Democratic supporters urging them to support her husband’s healthcare proposals, then gave a television interview to discuss her role in fighting childhood obesity.
Urging Americans to embrace a healthier lifestyle, she added: “Government can’t do it all . . . my hope is that if I play a role in sort of ringing the bell of prevention and wellness and exercise . . . I think that can be helpful.”
Acutely conscious of the Clinton precedent — which not only scarred Hillary’s reputation but also set back the cause of healthcare reform for a decade — White House officials insist the president’s wife will steer clear of policy controversy.
“It has never been our interest in having the first lady play a prominent or leading role in advancing our policy positions,” said one official. “You are not going to see her out there on the stump.”
Oprah Winfrey recently described Michelle as “an authentically empowered real woman who looks and feels like a modern woman in the 21st century”. Others have praised her as a symbol of middle-class, feminist accomplishment and stylish working motherhood.
Michelle Obama gave up her $300,000 (£182,000) a year job to be a stay-at-home president’s wife. To expect a woman of such substance to bite her tongue on controversial issues may prove unrealistic. She has already instructed her staff to think “strategically” about maximising her impact on the issues she addresses; she is also hiring her own speechwriter.
Sher insisted Michelle Obama was not about to turn into Hillary Mark Two: “My own perception of it is that she doesn’t want to get involved in . . . wonky policy issues \ the kind of contentious legislative proposals that are going on at any given time.”
Other Democrats are beginning to wonder how long she can restrict herself to such uncontroversial subjects as her daughters’ enthusiasm for vegetables.
“Sasha likes peas,” she said last week. “And Malia is a pretty big broccoli fan.”
Source: TimesOnlineRead more…
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