AllHipHop Reports
Rap star Corey “C-Murder” Miller was officially sentenced to life in prison today (August 14) for killing a 16-year-old teenager inside a Jefferson Parish nightclub.
On Tuesday (August 11) a jury found Miller guilty of shooting and killing Steven Thomas inside of the club, after an altercation with Miller and several other men in January of 2002.
Miller’s attorney Ron Rakosky asked Judge Jans Liljeberg for a retrial, but the judge refused the request yet again, paving the way for Miller, 38, to be sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.
The rapper was originally found guilty of the shooting in 2002, but the verdict was overturned when it was learned that prosecutors hid the criminal records of several witnesses from the defense.
Miller appeared in court today chained and shackled.
He sat quietly as Rakosky filed a motion to withdraw as Miller’s attorney, because Miller had not paid him for his services. Miller plans to appeal the guilty verdict.
C. Murder helped usher New Orleans Hip-Hop into the mainstream with brothers Percy “Master P.” Miller and Vyshonn “Silkk the Shocker” Miller as part of No Limit Records.
He is also the uncle of teen actor/rapper Romeo Miller, star of the series Romeo! on Nickelodeon.
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AllHipHop Reports
Rapping preacher Mason “Mase” Betha continues to promote his ministry as he also revives his career as a Hip-Hop artist.
Mase, who released an first official single earlier this month titled “Shut the City Down,” will host “The Millionaires Meeting” later this month in Athens, Georgia.
The rapper and his Mason Betha Ministries will host the event, which aims to teach those who attend how to “overcome during these economic times and achieve financial freedom.”
Mase’s “Millionaires Meeting” takes place at the University of Georgia’s Tate Center on August 23, beginning at 6:00 PM.
Meanwhile Mase recently shot down rumors that his new single “Shut the City Down” was sending a diss to Roc-A-Fella boss, Jay-Z, who is name checked on the track.
“I’m not about dissin anyone on STCD,” Mase said via his Twitter page. “Neither am I dissin or making subliminal quotes! That's wack and weak. Jay & I respect each other.”
Mase was recently spotted in New York, where he was reportedly meeting with Bad Boy CEO Sean “Diddy” Combs and shopping for a record deal.
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HipHopWired Reports
Rockstar Games has partnered with producer Timbaland to release the video game “Beaterator” on September 29th and October 2nd respectively in North America and Europe. Available for PSP and PlayStation systems, the game will allow users to create their own beats using production from Timbaland.
Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games whose franchise includes the highly successful “Grand Theft Auto” series, stated, “Beaterator is a very natural progression for us. Music is incredibly important to us here at Rockstar, and we believe that there are many people out there who share that passion and will be excited about creating music of their own.”
Initially created in 2005 as a Flash application on the Rockstar website, Beaterator quickly took on a life of its own. Featuring thousands of loops and sounds made by both Timbaland and Rockstar, Beaterator puts the power to make professional-level music at your fingertips in a format that's portable, accessible and fun as anyone can now create great-sounding music. Timbaland added, “I've worked closely with Rockstar Games to make something completely unique. Beaterator is like taking my music studio and turning it into a suite of tools anyone can use. We can't wait to hear the beats people make and share with the world.”
In related news, Timbaland's production is also slated to appear on Jay-Z's highly anticipated Blueprint III alongside the likes of No I.D. and Kanye West. The Blueprint III is scheduled to be released on September 11th.
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HipHopWired Reports
As Hip-Hop Wired previously reported, MC Hammer seems to be having some new issues with the IRS. Well Hammer has come out disputing reports that he owes Uncle Sam about $625,000 in back taxes and says that the money he allegedly owes is from 15 years ago when he had his initial financial problems with the government. Hammer stated,
"I paid the IRS 100 percent of their claim. In the past year or so, they decided--wrongly--that I owed them additional taxes from 15 years ago. I am contesting this claim through my tax attorneys and my case is making its way through the IRS appeal process. I hope to be successful."
Hammer is currently being featured on "Hammertime," a television show on the A&E network. He also added,
"I think the IRS claim is wrong and unfair. When there was a sum of $7 million dollars available, the IRS took the amount they said was due them. Now they want to come back for more now that it's 15 years later? That's just not right and I'm fighting that nonsense."
Hammer said that the alleged past due amount of approximately $625,000 is not related to his current successful business ventures and have no impact on them. Hammer owns or works on several businesses including Dance Jam, his own record label, production company, and musical appearances, as well as other ventures.
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AllHipHop Reports
With former T.I. protégé vehemently denying accusations that he was a late 90’s informant, the website Smoking Gun has released further damning evidence against the Georgia rapper.
In May, the Smoking Gun first published reports that Alfamega, real name Cedric Zellars, testified in 1996 against Georgia drug dealer Ali Baaqar in exchange for receiving 18 months off his 9 year prison sentence.
When the information was verified, T.I. promptly kicked his former close friend out of his Grand Hustle camp via a written letter.
Since then, Alfamega has broke his leg in police chase, and launched a diss track and letter at T.I. over his dismissal.
In the intro to the new 25 page document, the Smoking Gun states that Zellars forced them to resurface the information after he accused them of forging documents.
“We hate to pile on poor Cedric "Alfamega" Zellars,” the site explained. “But when the rapper recently surfaced to claim that a TSG story about his previous work as an informant was wrong (and maybe even based on fabricated documents), we decided to revisit his days as a government snitch.”
The records reveal that Alfamega approached the federal government himself to initiate his testimony, and agreed to identify a “big drug dealer” that he worked for and purchased large keys of cocaine from.
During a cross-examination, Alfamega also admitted to fathering 13 children by 13 different women.
Aside from Baaqar, the documents quote Alfamega as stating there were several other men he gave information on, but failed to secure convictions to further lower his sentence.
“I had people calling, and I was writing,” explained Cellars in regard to reaching out to the FBI and DEA.
“I been asked for information. They picked some of the guys up, but it didn’t do nothing to help me. I just gave it because they asked me.”
At press time, Alfamega has not addressed the latest allegations against him.
Smoking Gun Docs HereRead more…
HipHopWired Reports
Miami street poet Trick Daddy will be releasing his autobiography later this year called “Magic City: Trials Of A Native Son” through MTV Books. Speaking to HipHopWired exclusively about the project, Trick revealed,
“Nothing I ever say whether in music or DVD or whatever will ever get any one indicted or open any closed caskets or fuck up no appeals but this book is definitely gonna be a best seller and show Miami in a whole ‘nother light. "Cocaine Cowboys" was a good movie but it never showed the people who actually went out and sold the drugs. Niggas who toted and shot the guns. Parents who got addicted to the drugs and the babies born addicted to the drugs. They don't show and tell that part in these other documentaries and my book does all that and it also sets up a movie to follow behind that as well as a part 2 and 3 to follow.”
Trick will also be starring in the upcoming film Just Another Day co-starring members from the cast of the HBO series “The Wire” and directed by Peter Spirer. Spirer has directed numerous Hip-Hop film projects including Rhyme & Reason, Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel, Black and Blue: Legends of the Hip-Hop Cop” and Beef I and II. Breaking down the film, T-Double D said,
“The flick is a Hip-Hop gangsta flick. It's a flick about a dude that owns a record company and the other dude is a rapper with the company and they deal with a whole bunch of street shit. Just showing the real shit that we actually go through and though we're entertainers, we also have to live. I get to be me in the movie. I ain't got to play no “Broke Back Mountain” scene. I ain't got to be no rat or none of that. I was being me and doing my thug thizzle in the movie. And it was a privilege to work with these young niggas that I admire for what they do.”
Just Another Day will also feature “The Wire's” Wood Harris and Jamie Hector as well Lil Scrappy, Big Daddy Kane, Esther Baxter, Petey Pablo and Big Daddy Kane.
In regard to the music, Mr. 305 will release his eighth album on September 15th entitled Finally Famous. The album will also break new stride for Trick as this will be his first independent release on his own label Dunk Ryders since severing ties with Slip-n-Slide and Atlantic Records. Trick added,
“It's the same Trick Daddy you hear on all my albums. I'm still representing what I always have, the struggle, the streets, the thugs. It's a new game out now called “Telling” where niggas is snitching and getting their time cut and it's very contagious and I'm talking a lot about that up there. I'm doing me now. I am the boss on this project. I totally control everything now but I'm still definitely doing my thug thizzle.”
Trick is already tearing up the streets with several songs from the album including “Why They Jock” and the Rick Ross diss, “This Is The Shit That I Live.”
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CNN Reports
Police are investigating whether a North Carolina country road may have become the dumping ground for a serial killer, a man one woman believes could have given her a terrifying ride she will never forget.
Since May 2005, the remains of five women have been found near Seven Bridges Road outside Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The road snakes northeast out of town into rural Edgecombe County.
Rocky Mount Police Chief John Manley Jr. thinks the women's deaths are related.
"They seem to have some connection," he said.
Lanessa Williams of Rocky Mount thinks she narrowly missed joining the ranks of the slain women, saying she is not sure whether a man who offered her a ride to a friend's house last year is responsible for their deaths.
The longer the two drove, the more she felt a sense of danger, said Williams, 38. The man -- whom she described as thin and African-American, with a mustache and glasses -- rarely spoke and "looked crazy."
"He kept on going, and he rode through lights, and he wouldn't let me get out," she said. Eventually, her fears were confirmed when he demanded sex. "He told me that if I didn't do what he wanted me to do, he was going to kill me and throw me in the river."
The man eventually stopped his truck in a dark wilderness area, she said. When he got out, she ran away.
"I laid in a ditch and stayed there for a while," she said. "He was riding around looking for me."
Police are talking to Williams about her experience. She told authorities she noticed something strange: The large block letters saying "Chevrolet" on the back of the man's truck appeared to be painted on.
All five of the slain women were African-American, authorities said. Four lived in Rocky Mount, about 55 miles northeast of the state capital, Raleigh.
According to the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office, they were:
• Melody Wiggins, 29, whose body was found May 29, 2005.
• Jackie Nikelia Thorpe, 35, whose body was found August 17, 2007, behind a house on Seven Bridges Road.
• Ernestine Battle, 50, whose remains were found in a wooded area on the road March 13, 2008.
• Taraha Shenice Nicholson, 28, whose remains were discovered March 7, 2009.
• Jarneice Latonya Hargrove, 31, whose skeletal remains were found June 29, 2009, in the woods off the road.
Manley said it appears that the women "suffered a similar death," but authorities are not divulging further details, including the cause of the deaths.
Edgecombe County Sheriff James L. Knight is leading the investigation, working with Rocky Mount police and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The three agencies have created a joint task force to investigate the unsolved killings.
Knight is asking the public to be vigilant. "Watch for vehicles if they are on a path or stop along that roadway, and give us a call."
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HipHopWired Reports
The latest MC to be tapped for their own shoe line is none other than Brooklyn's finest, F-a-b-o-l-o-u-s. Fabolous, who is still riding high on the success of his #1 album Loso's Way, is releasing a Reebok tennis shoe collection exclusive to Foot Locker stores. His line from the Reebok Classic Remix collection will be jumpstarted by a Classic Remix Concert Series from Cornerstone Promotion and Footlocker. The first 100 fans at Foot Locker in select cities will be able to “buy a pair” and “get a pair,” receiving tickets for the concert after their purchase of the shoes. Fabolous will personally meet and perform for fans in New York City on August 24, New Orleans on August 26, Miami on August 28, Houston on September 1 and Atlanta on September 3.
His collection is said to have an old school look updated with fresh and modern material. The footwear will feature classic midtops with remixed color collections including the SL 7010 in cobalt blue, white, and black and the Workout Hi in black and red, and gray and black. Check out the collection below
MTVNEWS Reports
OK, so Kanye West and Lady Gaga probably have not actually gotten married, as Gaga jokingly said. However, they are apparently working on their first baby.
By "baby," we of course mean the super-ambitious set design they're collaborating on for their upcoming co-headlining tour, which, although it is yet to be officially confirmed, is reported to be kicking off on October 4 in Buffalo, New York.
In an recent interview with the BBC, Gaga said that she and Kanye have been working together on the look and feel of their tour, and, from the sound of things, it's shaping up to be a big production — if not, as she says, one of the biggest of all time.
"I love Kanye ... [he] is my very dear friend and we are creative kindreds," she said. "It's been fun to work on the design of the tour with him — we're finishing each other's sentences.
"It's going to be one of the most groundbreaking moments in touring history," she continued. "I am sure of it."
In another interview — this one in the September issue of Out magazine — Gaga made another claim.
She said she told Kanye, "I just want to be clear before we decide to do this together: I'm gay. My music is gay. My show is gay. And I love that it's gay," she told the magazine. "And I love my gay fans and they're all going to be coming to our show. And it's going to remain gay."
Before Gaga hits the road with West, she'll get the chance to work out the live show kinks at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. She's up for nine Moonmen, and earlier this week, it was announced that she'll also be performing at the big show, alongside the likes of Jay-Z, Green Day, Taylor Swift, Pink and Muse.
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Vivian Blake
AllHipHop Reports
The leader of a notorious Jamaican drug gang recently sent a message to Michael S. Lynton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
In the video, Vivian Blake, former head of the notorious Shower Posse, urges the studio boss to hire The Inc.’s Irv Gotti to direct a bio-pic about the murderous gang.
Vivian Blake was the leader and head of the Jamaican gang, which authorities claim was responsible for over 1,400 drug-related murders.
Blake was the subject of an episode of American Gangster, which aired on BET and was produced by filmmaker Curtis Scoon.
Blake was originally sentenced to 28 years in prison for his role as head of the gang, but was recently returned to Jamaica, when he reached a plea deal with prosecutors after serving nine years in federal prison.
“Mr. Michael Lynton, I am glad to have this opportunity to speak to you via videotape. We want to talk to you about The Shower Posse movie,” Blake said on the videotape. “I spoke with Irv Gotti, Curtis Scoon. Irv Gotti is a young man where I think he’ll bring the best out in this movie, show the rawness of this movie. This movie’s not just about gangsta and drug dealing, it’s about a culture that nobody has ever seen. I have the utmost confidence in Irv Gotti, I know he can get the job done.”
During the 1980’s The Shower Posse controlled a drug and gunning running business that stretched from Jamaica to American cities like New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, Washington, DC, Miami and others.
Blake’s organization originated in Tivoli Gardens in Kingston.
The Shower Posse smuggled tons of marijuana and cocaine from the Bahamas into the United States, using the profit to buy arms and ammunition, which was sent back to Jamaica in support of the Jamaican Labor Party.
“This movie is a winner all the way and anything raw that you need, we’re talking about things that are real, it will be in the movie, ” Blake stated. “I can make sure rawness come into the movie, because I am out of prison now.”
No word yet if or when The Shower Posse movie will land in theaters.
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The Ledger Reports
CAPE CORAL | Authorities say a patient at a Cape Coral doctor’s office bit part of the doctor’s finger off after being denied a prescription.
Cape Coral police report that 45-year-old Gregory S. Powell went to see Dr. Paul Arnold Wednesday morning, and Powell became upset about not receiving prescription medication.
Police say Arnold turned his back and Powell attacked the doctor. Powell reportedly bit Arnold several times, taking off the doctor’s finger tip with one bite.
The finger tip was recovered at the scene and Arnold was taken to a nearby hospital.
Police have put out a warrant for Powell’s arrest on a charge of aggravated battery.
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ESPN Reports
Quarterback Michael Vick has signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, his agent, Joel Segal, confirmed to ESPN.com.
Vick arrived in Philadelphia Tuesday morning and remained there Wednesday evening. The Eagles will hold a news conference on Friday morning to announce his signing. The first year of the deal is for $1.6 million deal with an option for the second year at $5.2 million, FoxSports.com reports.
Vick was the No. 1 draft pick in 2001, and once the highest-paid player in football. But he has not played since 2006 when his career came tumbling down. He was convicted in August 2007 of conspiracy and running a dogfighting operation, sentenced to 23 months in federal prison and suspended indefinitely by the NFL.
But after serving his time and being released from home confinement July 20, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell conditionally lifted Vick's suspension, allowing him to sign with a team.
Vick can immediately take part in preseason practices, workouts and meetings and can play in the final two preseason games.
Once the season begins, Vick may participate in all team activities except games, and Goodell said he would consider Vick for full reinstatement by Week 6 (Oct. 18-19) at the latest.
Vick filed for bankruptcy protection last July, listing assets of about $16 million and debts of more than $20 million.
Vick pleaded guilty after his three co-defendants had already done so. They told of how Vick participated in the killing of dogs that didn't perform well in test fights by shooting, hanging, drowning or slamming them to the ground.
Vick's appearances at federal court in Richmond, Va., prompted large groups of protesters to gather outside. Many were with PETA and held signs depicting photographs of pit bulls ravaged in dogfights.
Still, there were supporters who wore his No. 7 jersey.
The Eagles travel to meet Vick's former team, the Atlanta Falcons, in Week 13 on Dec. 6.
The Eagles went to the playoffs last season under quarterback Donovan McNabb, and are still looking for their elusive first Super Bowl win.
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