Rihanna's war with her former accounting firm, Berdon LLP, is starting to heat up. Rihanna sued the New York-based firm last month accusing them of bad bookkeeping.
In her suit filed in a Manhattan federal court under her real name, Robyn Fenty, the singer said that Berdon LLP failed to inform her that her 2009 Last Girl On Earth tour had managed "significant net losses," despite the fact that revenue was up. The suit further claims that the accounting firm took 22% of the revenue while only paying Rihanna 6%.
The suit says that the defendants took millions from revenues from four national and international tours over five years.
TMZ is reporting that in new legal documents Berdon is firing back.
Berdon says that any accusation of mismanagement are not true. They maintain that "the commission they took was signed off on by RiRi in an engagement letter that gave them permission to do so."
Berdon claims that it was Rihanna's "own financial action or inaction" or the actions of others working for her that caused her to lose millions and they are not at fault.
The accounting firm is asking that Rihanna be awarded nothing from the lawsuit. A judge has not yet ruled.
Public outrage is growing over the bizarre shooting death of 21-year old Chavis Carter in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Carter and two other men were pulled over July 29th for driving suspiciously. The first officer called for backup, then the two of them searched the three men in the truck.
Police say Carter initially gave them a false name, but they eventually found out who he was. They also determined that he had an arrest warrant out of Mississippi. Carter was arrested when police found a $10 bag of weed on him and some small plastic bags during an initial search.
Carter was placed into the back of a cruiser without being handcuffed. Cops then searched the vehicle Carter was in and reportedly found drug paraphernalia, including electronic scales and a large bag of white powder.
At that point Carter was searched again, handcuffed and placed in the back of the same police cruiser.
“As protocol he was handcuffed behind his back and double locked, and searched”, said Sergeant Lyle Waterworth of the Jonesboro Police.
Minutes later police say they heard a thumping noise, turned around and found Chavis dead, shot in the head, in the back of the squad car. A small, .380 caliber handgun along with a spent cartridge, were found in the backseat with Carter, who was still handcuffed. The gun had been reported stolen in June.
Bizarre: Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas, say they missed the small handgun Carter was carrying and only found it after he had shot himself in the temple while being held in a squad car
“Any given officer has missed something on a search, be it drugs, knife, razor blades, this instance it happened to be a gun” Waterworth told WREG.com.
Chavis' mother, Teresa Carter, said her son wasn't suicidal. She believes he was murdered by the police.
“I think they killed him, my son wasn’t suicidal.” she said.
Teresa also said her son was shot in the right temple and he is left handed.
Wanted: Officers discovered a $10 baggie of marijuana in Carter's pocket and also discovered he was wanted on a warrant from Mississippi
"If you could find a dime bag of marijuana on a person, you could find a .380," his great-aunt, Cassie Carter told The Daily Mail. "It's hard for me to accept the fact that he would do something like that due to his personality."
Talib Kweli commented about the shooting on Twitter recently. There is also a Facebook group (Justice for Chavis Carter) that has been started.
According to the Huffington Post, "The FBI has since joined the investigation into Carter’s death. The two officers on the scene the night of the shooting, Keith Baggett and Ron Marsh, both of whom are white, are on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation."
Jonesboro Police Chief Michael Yates called Carter’s death “bizarre,” saying it “defies logic at first glance.” “Specifically, how Carter suffered his apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound remains unexplained,” said a department statement.
Rallying cry: Carter's death has been compared to the shooting of Trayvon Martin as well as wrongful police shootings in the past
Yates said police have figured out ways someone could shoot themselves while handcuffed, but refused to discuss them while the investigation is still underway.
Investigators also claim that it has been determined from video and audio recordings, as well as statements from witnesses that neither one of the officers fired a shot during the traffic stop. However, police have refused to release those recordings.
The Craighead County branch of the NAACP has called for thorough, outside investigation into Carter's death.
"The public relies upon police to serve and protect all citizens, no matter their race or ethnicity," the NAACP said in a statement.
Preliminary autopsy results could be available as early as this week.
LONDON—For much of Sunday’s gold-medal game here at North Greenwich Arena, Team USA was slightly off. Offensively, led by Kevin Durant’s 30 points, their numbers were good, but they weren’t able to reliably create the kind of easy points that have been their hallmark in the Olympics. Combine that with the efficient offense of Spain, and heading into the final moments of the game, the outcome was very much in doubt.
But then the world’s best team turned to the world’s best player. LeBron James, with 2:45 to go in the game and the U.S. clinging to a 97-91 lead, blew past Rudy Fernandez and drove to the rim, finishing with a resounding dunk. Less than a minute later, he pulled up with Spain center Marc Gasol in his face, knocking down a 3-pointer that gave Team USA a nine-point lead that it would carry to a 107-100 win. James wound up with 19 points and seven rebounds.
The U.S. has beaten Spain in consecutive gold-medal games.
It was not an easy go, however.
Offensively, Spain got off to a scintillating start, as guard Juan Carlos Navarro scored 14 points in the first quarter and the team shot 47.1 percent from the floor. But the U.S. offense was unstoppable, going 7-for-10 from the 3-point line and shooting 57.1 percent overall to establish a 35-27 lead at the end of the first period.
But Spain would not go away in the second period, and things got testy between the two teams. After Sergio Rodriguez capped a 12-2 run, giving Spain a 39-37 lead, with a 3-pointer, Rodriguez delivered a shot to Tyson Chandler at the other end as Chandler was setting a screen. Chandler immediately began yelling at Rodriguez, who put his finger in Chandler’s face. Both players were called for technical fouls.
The testiness got to both sides, as the referees dominated action late in the second quarter. Marc Gasol was hit with his fourth foul (five is a disqualification in international basketball) of the game in the middle of the second period, and Rodriguez picked up his third in the second period, too. By halftime, four U.S. players had two fouls, and Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams had three. The Americans had taken 18 free throws. Spain took 21. When the U.S.’s Andre Iguodala was whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul with 3.1 seconds to go in the half, free throws by Rudy Fernandez allowed Spain to pull within a 59-58 score as the teams went into the locker room.
In the third quarter, Spain’s strategy was clear—hammer the Americans’ weak interior defense with Pau Gasol. Time and again, Spain found a way to get Gasol touches in paint, and he delivered, scoring Spain’s first 13 points in the quarter. Gasol finished with 24 points on the night. While the D did not hold for Team USA in the third, the offense was able to keep pace, getting 10 third-quarter points from Durant and seven from James, allowing the Americans to hold on to an 83-82 edge going into the decisive fourth period.
Earlier on Sunday, Russia beat Argentina to win bronze.
Jahlil Beats is one of the most sought after producers right now. He's worked with a lot of artists, but his bond with Meek Mill is especially strong. In this video Jahlil shows the step by step process of his production for the Meek Mill and Big Sean record "Burn" from Meek's Dreamchasers 2 mixtape.
2 Chainz and Nicki Minaj hit up Diamonds Of Atlanta to film the official music video for Tity Boi's "I Luv Dem Strippers." The track is featured on 2 Chainz's new album Based On A T.R.U. Story, which hits store shelves this Tuesday.
Directed by Benny Boom
Pre-Order your copy of Based On A T.R.U. Story now on iTunes
When the taxman comes to holla it's generally never good news. Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav is trying to figure out how he's going to pay the IRS nearly $1 million in unpaid taxes.
TMZ is reporting that the entertainer owes $52, 243.47 for 2004, $303,035.93 for 2005 and $550,971.16 for 2006. Total damages equal $906,250.56.
The report states that those are the years Flavor found reality tv success on shows like "The Surreal Life," "Strange Love" and "Flavor of Love."
Mississippi and Houston link up as Big K.R.I.T. recruits Slim Thug and Lil Keke for the official "Me and My Old School (remix)" music video. The original track can be found on K.R.I.T.'s mixtape 4eva N A Day.
It's always good to hear new music from the late great J Dilla. The producer's estate recently released a new album of his work titled Rebirth of Detroit. Here's a new video from the project.
"Rebirth Is Necessary" features Tone Plummer and Mr. Wrong.
You can pick this album up from J Dilla's official store HERE, or iTunes or at Fatbeats HERE.
Beyonce made good on her promise to film a music video for "I Was Here" on Friday at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York City. The song is being donatated by Beyonce and Diane Warren, the song's composer, for World Humanitarian Day.
The live performance video will be released on World Humanitarian Day, August 19.
Beyonce received praise from those in attendance for her performance.
"She was fantastic," U.K. Ambassador to the U.N., Sir Mark Lyall Grant, said after the performance, which he attended with his daughter.
Actress Julia Stiles, on her way into the performance, said, "Beyoncé is kick ass and, it is the U.N., which is very exciting."
R & B singer The Dream added, "I really believe in being a better human being on a daily basis, especially from the culture we are from, it is a big step."
As we previously reported, Jim Jones and Azealia Banks got into a war of words on Twitter several days ago. Today Azealia releases a diss track aimed at the Dipset Capo.
50 Cent has been making the media rounds lately promoting his new movie Freelancers. The flick, which also stars Robert De Niro and Forest Whitaker arrives on Blu-ray August 21st.
When the G-Unit boss sat down with The Hollywood Reporter, he was asked about several other topics as well. One of the questions had to do with Snoop Dogg's name change to Snoop Lion.
“It’s interesting,” 50 told THR. “Of course, there will be some people who connect to it and there will be some people that run from it – I don’t know how his little league team’s parents will feel about his new persona. But again, it’s a persona – these are the choices he’s created for himself creatively. And, you know, I think it will work.”
50 added that hip hop has always embraced weed influenced rap lyrics.
“Snoop’s always been that,” he says. “In the very beginning, that was his consistent theme – he had the weed, and everything else was there. [But] for hip-hop culture, it will work, because there’s enough of that going on; Wiz Khalifa, his entire theme is that. I’ve consistently seen artists sell 500,000 copies with that as a theme: Redman, Method Man, Styles P. And then I saw someone sell a million records when Afroman spoke to the younger college demographic – 'I was going to do my homework, but then I got high,'" he recalls, referring to the rapper's 2001 hit single "Because I Got High." "It just changed it up – it just felt like there was a humor to the way he chose to write it and it had a stronger impression and effect, because the kids liked to laugh at it."
As far as his own music career, 50 is getting ready to release his new album Street King Immortal on November 13th. The lead single "New Day" has been getting a lot of positive response. It's the kind of song we're used to hearing from 50, but at one point he planned to go in another direction musically. He had planned to release the album Black Magic, which was more influenced by European dance music. That project has been shelved and will never see the light of day according to 50.
“It doesn’t make sense – and that’s why you’re never going to hear that album,” he says ofBlack Magic. “I have things that I really appreciate that belong in my iPod -- my iPod only -- and leave it there.”
Presented by Wisdom Court Entertainment and produced by Imahj, the first single, "Love Me Baby", featuring DJ Cliffstarr, off Billy Lyve's highly anticipated new album, "Falling Up While I'm Dreaming", is dropping soon! Stay tuned!
This clip follows Curren$y & The Jets over 24 hours from Miami to New Orleans, where Spitta & The Jets host a night at Cameo and record several new records for upcoming projects which are previewed here exclusively.
About a week ago the cover art and tracklist was released for Slaughterhouse's upcoming welcome to: Our House album. Today we get the production credits as well.
The album drops August 28th. You can pre-order your copy now on Amazon.
1. The Slaughter (Intro) 2. Our House (Feat. Eminem & Skylar Grey) (Prod. Alex Da Kid)
3. Coffin (Feat. Busta Rhymes) (Prod. by Hit-Boy)
4. Throw That (Feat. Eminem) (Prod. T-Minus)
5. Hammer Dance (Prod. araabMUZIK)
6. Get Up (Prod. No. I.D.)
7. My Life (Feat. Cee Lo Green) (Prod. STREETRUNNER & Raymond “SAROM” Diaz)
8. We Did It (Skit) (Prod. Eminem)
9. Flip A Bird (Prod. Black Key Beats and Zukhan)
10. Throw It Away (Feat. Swizz Beatz) (Prod. Mr. Porter)
11. Rescue Me (Feat. Skylar Grey) (Prod. Alex Da Kid)
12. Frat House (Prod. T-Minus)
13. Goodbye (Prod. Boi-1da)
14. Park It Sideways (Prod. Kane Beatz)
15. Die (Prod. Mr. Porter)
16. Our Way (Outro) (Prod. Boi-1da)
Deluxe version:
17. Asylum (Feat. Eminem) 18. Walk Of Shame
19. The Other Side
20. Place To Be (Feat. B.o.B)
After releasing her mixtape Ignorant Art and the EP Glory, Iggy Azalea feels like she is not the average female rapper. She sat down recently with VladTV to talk about her music and the fact she is still experimenting with it.
Check out the interview below and be on the lookout for Iggy's Grand Hustle debut album The New Classic coming soon.
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