BallerStatus Reports
Back in May, rapper Cage dropped his Shia LaBeouf-directed video, "I Never Knew You," which was the young actor's debut as a music video director. But, there's more to the story than just directing a music video for a friend.
Both have been friends for years, and Shia's goal -- in collaborating with Cage for a music video -- isn't about getting into the music world. It's about making a movie ... about Cage.
In an interview withMTV, the actor revealed that he's been a fan of Cage for some time, and reached out to him over four years ago with a film idea.
"Like four years ago, I got in touch with him. It was super Hollywood, like an 'I'll have my people call your people' type of thing. But his people really didn't exist in the form of my people," Shia laughed.
After that, he followed Cage on his Hell's Winter Tour, and shot a bunch of footage, after which he felt Cage's story would make a great movie.
"I came out during the Hell's Winter Tour and started filming him on that tour for, like, weeks and weeks -- almost two months. We just jumped around, city to city, and we became friends that way," Shia explained. "Yes, I'm a fan, and I wanted to see him perform, but I'd always wanted to make a movie about him since forever. And so the plan was to take that Hell's Winter footage and go pitch the movie."
A reserved Cage feels a little shy about the whole thing, saying its strange to even think about it.
It's really strange. I try not to think about it," the rapper said in a recent interview with Decider.Com. I don't talk about myself in the third person, but I try to think about myself in third person when we're talking about the Cage movie. I try to keep myself separated from it. There's nothing worse than the first few years of getting restless; you just feel like an asshole thinking, 'C'mon, when is this movie going to be made about me!'"
There's not a time frame, or schedule for this project, but neither are worried. Shia plans to continue filming, and pitching the film, and says as Cage's profile raises, it'll be easier to get investors onboard.
However, he feels Cage's story will sell the movie itself.
"I want them to know everything," Shia explained of Cage's story, which includes drug use, physical abuse and a stint in a mental institution. "If you could just picture getting handed the sh**tiest cards, over and over again, and having to play with them. When I listen to Cage's music [no matter how bad things are], it's like my life is not that bad."
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AllHipHop Reports
A full-fledged lyrical feud has broken out between Inspectah Deck of the Wu Tang Clan and Joe Budden, who now represents for Slaughterhouse.
While Budden has yet to respond in song, Deck has released a song called “House N***a,” where he proclaims “the war is on.”
The lyrical beef is a result of Joe Budden expressing that he was a greater emcee than Method Man in a tourney of the best rappers alive by now-defunct Vibe magazine.
"When I first heard the Inspectah Deck s**t I thought it was weak but I said, 'Aight I'm going to tear him up for fun," Budden said on BlogTV, a site he uses for live video blogging. "I just wish somebody else would've responded, not him... Me and Raekwon talked it out, me and Busta Rhymes already spoke. Now here you come...”
Budden didn’t say that he would definitely respond, but he did sent some barbed words for Deck.
“While Inspectah Deck may be considered a legend for the one great verse he had in his 30 year career, it's 2009...We'll see how it all plays out. We gotta see how it goes down when I get into the studio,” Budden continued. “He should be dissing RZA for not paying him. When Saigon dissed me, my next dis track was the fact that I got paid from his dis track. I don't think people really use their heads. He rapped on 'Pump It Up.' Me and Just [Blaze] got paid for it."
On the song, Deck admits to defending Method Man, who refused to entertain a battle with Budden.
On his blog, Budden suggested that he may use the feud to push his Slaughterhouse album with Crooked I, Royce Da 5’ 9” and Joell Ortiz.
“Honestly, dude ain't worth responding to... But I DO have an album coming out.. Might be buzzworthy to cook dude.. We'll see,” Budden wrote.
Listen to “House N***a” by Inspectah Deck of Wu Tang
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XXL Reports
While the war of words between Slaughterhouse and D-Block defector J-Hood has recently cooled off, Royce da 5’9″ says the dispute is far from resolved.
In a recent interview with XXLMag.com, Nickel-Nine denied that there’d be any more lyrical fire from his four-man super group, but insisted that the beef could leak off of the wax.
“We’re not going to respond to him because he’s a bum… just like Ransom,” Royce said, who’s digital EP The Revival dropped yesterday (July 7). “He might want to shut his fucking mouth. Detroit niggas don’t play that shit.”
Hood has been taking shots at the entire Slaughterhouse crew for the past few months, name-calling and levying threats on street DVDs. “I’m all for the battle rapping, but when you get to talking about what you’re going to do… I don’t want to fucking hear that,” Royce continued. “I move around New York how I feel. That nigga can’t step a fucking pinky toe in Detroit.”
“He can say what he wanna say,” he added, “but if he brings that shit anywhere near my circumference, I’ma take his fucking head off.”
The dispute began late last year, when J-Hood took exception to a Royce punchline. He told hiphopbeef.com the offending quip was, “I’m the one, really though/you just a J-Hood gun video.”
The Yonkers MC clapped back with “Watch What You Say,” also dissing Jim Jones, 50 Cent and Jadakiss.
In April, Royce responded with his rendition of Red Café’s “Hottest In The Hood” followed by partner-in-rhyme Crooked I’s “Slaughterhouse is a Big Deal.”
Next for Royce is the debut disc from his group , Slaughterhouse scheduled for an August 11 release. His fifth solo LP, Street Hop, is set to drop in September. –John Kennedy
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We just spoke with Tennessee assistant medical examiner Dr. Feng Li, who tells us preliminary test results in the Steve McNair death show Sahel Kazemi fired the gun that killed both of them.
Feng -- who conducted autopsies on the two bodies -- told us he was able to make the determination from the crime scene investigation, police interviews, autopsy findings and preliminary lab results -- which include a gunshot residue test.
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USA Today Reports
Sahel Kazemi placed an ad on Craigslist selling all her furniture on the same day she bought the gun police found at the scene of her death, the Tennessean reports.
Kazemi was found dead with former NFL QB Steve McNair on Saturday, two days after buying the gun on July 2. She had also been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving early in the morning on July 2.
The headline on her Craigslist ad read: "NICE FURNITURE. TV, COUCH, COFFE TABLE AND MORE - $1 (hermitage)." (Here is a link to a Craigslist ad -- from its Nashville site -- that matches that headline.)
The cell number listed in the ad matches the number police got from Kazemi, 20, on July 2 when she was arrested. She bought the gun later that evening, police said.
Family members have said Kazemi was getting rid of her furniture because she was planning to move in with McNair. She listed a flat-screen TV, couch, dining room set and coffee table for sale.
McNair's friend, Robert Gaddy, said Tuesday that the former quarterback was not planning on leaving his wife, Mechelle.
Police have called a news conference at 3:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday to update the case.
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AllHipHop Reports
Maino has released more information about his forthcoming as-yet-untitled reality show on Sirius Radio/Shade 45's Lip Service with Angela Yee and Leah Rosa.
Maino, who has been tight lipped on the pending reality series, has confirmed that the show is 90% complete but the paperwork isn't signed yet.
The Brooklyn rapper said, "There's something, realty-based that's around, MTV-ish. It's about a white dude that doesn't come from our culture, he don't understand the rap game. He doesn't understand what it is to be a rapper everyday. He lives with me and tries to like understand what goes on in our world."
Rumors have circulated that Maino slapped a house guest during the season, and when asked if it was true, he dodged giving a definitive answer.
He did address the alleged blow saying, "Nothing I do is scripted. So if you see me smack someone you know that it's really going down."
No network has been attached Maino's reality show.
If Tomorrow Ever Comes, his debut CD, is in stores now.
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MTV Reports
Maxwell, you made us wait a little too long for your set during the Essence Music Festival last week, but it's all good. We're definitely eager to hear that BLACKsummers'night LP. Max was in his hometown of NYC on Monday night, hanging out with Fabolous and Nas and celebrating the release of his new record. Another Big Apple giant who loved Max's music was none other than the Notorious B.I.G.
"He was Brooklyn, a smooth-ass dude, B.I.G. definitely f---ed with him," Lil' Cease told us about Biggie's love for Max. "His music was dope, and me and Big supported it."
Man. Can you imagine a Biggie/Maxwell collaboration? We asked the singer what it would have sounded like.
"Wow. Wow. It's hard, because I'm from Brooklyn and [Biggie's] from Brooklyn," Maxwell said. "When Ready to Die was out, his first album was out. He's just the god of it all. I don't know what [our collaboration] would have sounded like. It distresses me more than I could know what it could sound like."
Maxwell also said him and Big could have taken it to the club or got smoothed out.
"It could be both, man," he said. "We're both Geminis, so I guess we would probably have more than one record, maybe. It's all about multiplicity for us. But he's sorely missed, though. I think people made it too real. Now people have a better understanding of what the lines are. The lines aren't too blurred in between the guy onstage and the person who's on the street. It's just sad he's not around for us to have known what those records would have sounded like."
When it comes to who Maxwell listens to now, he says he's a fan of MGMT and Radiohead.
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CNN Reports
Plainclothes investigators sent to test security at federal buildings in four U.S. cities were successful in smuggling bomb components through guard posts at all 10 of the sites they visited, according to a government report.
A GAO report cites lax security in federal buildings after investigators got bomb compenents past guards.
The investigators then assembled the bombs in restrooms and freely entered numerous government offices while carrying the devices in briefcases, the report said.
The buildings contained offices of several federal lawmakers as well as agencies within the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security, which is responsible for safeguarding federal office buildings.
CNN obtained the report late Tuesday, ahead of its expected release Wednesday at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, conducted the tests to check on the effectiveness of the Federal Protective Service .The FPS protects federal buildings by having about 1,200 federal law enforcement officers oversee an army of 13,000 private security guards.
In a videotape obtained by CNN, a covert GAO inspector places a bag containing bomb components on an X-ray machine conveyor belt and then walks through a magnetometer at an unidentified federal building. Unlike some covert tests that use simulated explosives, the GAO used actual bomb components in the test and publicly available information "to identify a type of device that a terrorist could use" to damage a building. Watch undercover agent smuggle bomb »
"The (improvised explosive device) was made up of two parts -- a liquid explosive and a low-yield detonator -- and included a variety of materials not typically brought into a federal facility by an employee or the public," the report says. Investigators obtained the components at local stores and over the Internet for less than $150, the report says.
After the components were smuggled into the building and assembled, the GAO says, it took steps to ensure the device would not explode. But to demonstrate the device's destructive power, the GAO videotaped the detonation of several devices at a remote site.
The GAO also released a photograph of a guard asleep at his post and detailed an instance in which a woman placed an infant in a carrier on an X-ray machine while retrieving identification. Because the guard was not paying attention and the machine's safety features had been disabled, the infant was sent through the X-ray machine, according to the report.
The FPS dismissed the guard, who, as a result, sued the agency for failing to provide X-ray training. FPS lost the suit because it could not prove that the guard had been trained, the report says.
All of the buildings involved in the test were "Level IV" buildings, meaning they housed more than 450 federal employees and have a high volume of public contact. The GAO has declined to identify the specific buildings "because of the sensitivity of some of the information in our report," the report says.
The GAO said that FPS has taken several steps to improve oversight of the guard program in response to the GAO investigation.
Specifically, the FPS has authorized overtime to conduct guard post inspections during off-business hours and is conducting its own tests. It has also moved to standardize inspections of guard posts across the country.
In prepared testimony, FPS Director Gary Schenkel said, "It was apparent FPS was experiencing some serious challenges" when he arrived at the agency in early 2007. Schenkel says the FPS has been focused on "standardizing its practices."
"When GAO presented its findings several weeks ago, we took it very seriously," Schenkel's testimony says. Within three hours of learning of the issued identified by the GAO, he increased the number of inspections of guard posts, he said. He has also established a team to "aggressively attack" the challenge of overseeing the contract guard program, he said.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Connecticut and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, called the test results "simply unacceptable."
"We knew that the FPS was a troubled agency, but that GAO could penetrate security at these buildings and make bombs without detection is truly shocking," he said.
The security lapses "show a disturbing pattern by the Federal Protective Service of poor training, lapsed documentation, lax management, inconsistent enforcement of security standards and little rigor," added Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the committee's ranking member.
The GAO report concludes that FPS "does not fully ensure that its guards have the training and certifications required to stand post at federal facilities."
The GAO says it visited six of the 11 FPS regions and that in all six regions, FPS did not require some of its guards to complete the mandatory 128 hours of training.
In one region, FPS "has not provided the required 8 hours of (X-ray) or magnetometer training to its 1,500 guards since 2004," the report says.
The report also says FPS does not have a national guidance on how often FPS inspectors should check on the contract guards. In several instances when inspectors have checked on guards, they found "instances of guards not complying with post orders."
In one case, the GAO report says, a guard was caught using government computers to manage a for-profit adult Web site.
David Wright, president of a union which represents about 1,000 federal employees, said the study shows the FPS is in a "pretty sad state."
"I do not believe that adequate training is provided (for the contract guards)," he said. "I think it is very unequal -- kind of a mish-mash across the country. In some cases we leave training up to the contractor, and (it) clearly is not sufficient."
Wright says his immediate goal is to have federal officers -- not contract guards -- protect Level IV buildings, and ultimately to have them protect Level III buildings as well.
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CNN Reports
Former figure skating champion and Olympian Nicole Bobek was free on bond Tuesday after New Jersey police accused her of being part of a drug ring.
Nicole Bobek waves after a routine at the World Figure Skating Championships in 1995.
Bobek, 31, who won the U.S. figure skating title in 1995, was arrested at her home in Jupiter, Florida, last week on a charge of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Hudson County, New Jersey, according to Guy Gregory of the Hudson County prosecutor's office.
She waived extradition rights to face the charges in New Jersey and made her first appearance in court on Monday via video, entering a plea of not guilty, Gregory said.
Bobek was released Monday night on bond, according to Sean Wilkes of the Hudson County Jail.
According to the prosecutor's office, 20 people have been arrested in connection with the alleged drug ring, which police have been investigating for nearly a year.
Bobek could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Her attorney, Sam DeLuca, was not immediately available for comment.
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BallerStatus Reports
Last week, Soulja Boy expressed his struggles with fame and fortune, via a series of Twitter updates, and now Bow Wow seems to be feeling the same way.
Soulja Boy is young, 18 to be exact, but so is Bow Wow. He is just 22. However, he's enjoyed fame in his elementary school years, so that's a long time.
In his own Twitter update, Bow revealed boredom with life, being that he's seen so much, so soon. He says his fame and success has made his depressed more than its made him happy.
"Man I be gettn bored wit life. I wish I neva did and seen err thang so soon," the rapper wrote on Tuesday (July 7). "I have nuffn to look forward 2. I’m down more than I am happy."
Before signing off, his last two tweets read: "In a dark place! Goodbye."
Bow Wow has seven solo albums under his belt. In April, he explained that he plans to retire from music to focus on a career in Hollywood.
He said, at the time, his last album -- New Jack City II -- is his final LP. "This my last album because for me, there's no more that needs to be done on the music side. I've done everything," the rapper said. "I've done everything from ... the scary thing is that I'm 22 years old. I'm young, I'm still a baby. On the music side, I've been doing this since five, 17 years of just non-stop music."
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BallerStatus Reports
The Black Eyed Peas are being accused of swiping a song from UK-based DJ and producer Adam Freeland without his permission.
According to the The Daily Swarm, Freeland is accusing the BEPs of plagiarizing his track "Mancry," off his latest project Cope, for their new song "Party All The Time."
"Party All The Time" is a track featured on the Peas' latest album, The E.N.D. and was released after Freeland's album.
Freeland definitely agrees that his track was bitten, and asked his Twitter followers to compare the two side-by-side: "Ok. Check this. Listen to our song 'Mancry'. Now listen to Black Eyed Peas 'Party All The Time.' WTF!" he tweeted.
Here's what the swarm suggests: "It seems very apparent that the Black Eyed Peas have straight up sampled the whole track as a backing to their vocals, and it could hardly even be considered a rearrangement. Check out Lee's drums as a focal point of the track."
Lawyers for both camps are currently in contact. At press time, it was unknown whether or not legal action would be filed with the courts.
Stay tuned ... but check out the comparison below to draw your own conclusions.
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AllHipHop Reports
Lil Kim and Faith had a face-to-face encounter towards the close of Sean "Diddy" Combs' coveted White Party in California, sources have reported.
Faith and Kim, whom both shared a relationship with The Notorious B.I.G., crossed paths at the White Party, which was held in Los Angeles instead of The Hampton's in New York.
Sources with AllHipHop.com said that Lil Kim took issue with her representation in Notorious, the biopic in which Faith was attached to.
Faith was in attendance with her husband and Lil Kim was with producer Choke No Joke and to some, this augmented the tension.
"It was really heated," one source said. "It was about to pop off...there was crazy screaming."
According to sources, Faith was saying, "I love you" to Lil Kim and Kim responded with "God bless you."
However, later at the event, Kim asked Faith, "How would you say you love me when you trashed me in your book?"
Under anonymity, a source told AllHipHop.com "We know that [Faith saying 'I love you'] is bulls**t. It wasn't even about the movie. It hurt Kim that she was being fake."
Actor Dennis Da Menace, who played D-Roc in "Notorious" and Devante Swing of Jodeci fame were able to prevent a potentially violent exchange between Faith's husband, Todd Russaw, and Choke No Joke.
"At first it was cool, but then Dennis had to peace it out," another source said.
Russaw reportedly attempted to take pictures as Kim and Faith spoke peacefully, to which Choke took exception.
Choke expressed publicly that it was inappropriate to take pictures and charged that Russaw was intoxicated. Russaw was not available for comment on the allegation.
Of the matter, Choke would only say, "Yes, I was there, but I don't have nothing to do with it. Please leave me out of it."
Sean "Diddy" Combs was not at the location at the time of the incident.
Despite the drama, Diddy managed to raise awareness for a charity, Malaria No More and his guests enjoyed their time, reports say.
Guests included Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Khloe Kardashian, Busta Rhymes, Tyrese, Shanna Moakler, Lindsay Lohan, Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon and Jonah Hill.
Even Chris Brown attended and performed his rendition of "Thriller."
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