RollingStone.com Reports
“I gotta say, I’m really excited about Katy Perry,” Sheryl Crow gushed briefly about Perry’s Bumbershoot-opening set last night, slyly insinuating the chorus from “I Kissed a Girl” into her own opening number, “A Change Will Do You Good.” Crow, Saturday’s main stage headliner at Seattle’s annual late-summer fest, showed the confident ease of an American rock icon, playing with a five-piece roots-rock band to a small but dedicated crowd. Peter Stroud laid down weepy slide guitar for “Strong Enough,” while fans sang along to “Good Is Good,” and Crow switched from acoustic to electric for “I Can’t Cry Anymore.” She gave the song a fitting introduction: “Seattle has great musicians. Heart’s at the top of my list. I like me some Eddie Vedder.”
Meanwhile, across Seattle Center at the moonlit Fisher Green Stage, De La Soul downloaded a greatest hits playlist from hip-hop’s late Golden Age. Pos and Dave, with Maceo on turntables, were backed by a crack four-piece band, plus horns and percussion, both three-deep. They started sloppy — this live band thing might’ve been a first in 20-some years of De La history — but by the time they hit “Pass the Plugs,” dipping into serious JBs territory, the set was locked. What proceeded from there was hip-hop heaven. “Jenifa Taught Me” sounded like Otis Redding done De La, “Me Myself and I” felt just right, and the core trio shooed the band offstage for a “two MCs, one DJ” version of “Ooh.” Their night-ending, full band version of Gorillaz’ “Feel Good Inc” had the crowd going bananas.
Hours earlier, Katy Perry opened the main stage with an uneven 40-minute set under gloomy early afternoon skies. She didn’t get any sleep the night before, she told a crowd of teenage girls and middle-aged men, and she was determined to get to Bumbershoot on time. Perry’s thighs were the stars of the show, as the rest of her seemed to alternately pogo or sleepwalk through her songs. “Queen is the main reason I do what I do,” she said before trying a cover of their “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “I swear to you they’re my favorite.” She strummed an acoustic guitar during a convincing version of “Thinking of You,” but by the time she got to “I Kissed a Girl,” the crowd seemed mostly over it.
It was a good day for Seattle sons. Past Lives — comprising former Blood Brothers — played ominous, knife-edged post-punk. Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground — former Gatsbys American Dream — regaled with raucous cabaret-pomp pop. Upstart L.A. provocateurs Iglu & Hartly apparently missed the memo about shirtless, long-haired rap-metal belonging to 1994, coaxing a roomful of teenage boys to hoist their teenage girlfriends on their shoulders; later, on the same Expo Center stage, New York freak-beat quartet Gang Gang Dance whipped up a surreal, dub-drenched racket surreal that sent half the room running
and half dancing madly. Whether it’s the discouraging weather, the lineup, or the economy, attendance is down at Bumbershoot this year, but quality remains high.
Read more…
AllHipHop Reports
Jay-Z's "D.O.A." has raised the ire of T-Pain and the singer has openly said, "F**k Jay-Z according to rapper Fabolous.
"Yo I'm at Rehab (club) in Vegas.. T-Pain is DJ'ing.. Sayin F**k JayZ, he old, blah blah.. guess its backlash from D.O.A," Fabolous said on his Twitter account.
T-Pain heavily relies on the Autotune technology, which was the topic of Jay-Z's "D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)." The song was the lead single on Jay-Z's Blueprint 3, which is to be released on Tuesday.
Fab continued to tell what he was doing an also offered his opinion of T-Pain's shot at Jay-Z.
"So I'm here wit Rihanna, @richyungamerica, & @paulcainsf.. Drinkin some strawberry/daquiri's.. Not feelin the Tpain JayZ dissing.. Brooklyn!"
Ironically, the person that DJ'd after T-Pain immediately started to play "D.O.A." and then a full set of Jay-Z song, Fab revealed.
Fab said that T-Pain was still in the club during the Jay-Z set.
This is the first time that T-Pain has expressed this level of disenchantment with Jay-Z. Earlier this summer T-Pain joined Jay-Z on the stage during Hot 97's summer. He seemed pleased with the recognition in an earlier interview with MTV.
"That affected me in a great way, man. I made sure I honored him as a great song writer...that's like the best song i heard in a couple years, man. And it's great that somebody that important stepped up and vouched for me."
T-Pain has not commented on the matter at press time.
Read more…
LA Times Reports
San Diego Chargers star linebacker Shawne Merriman was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of battery and false imprisonment after a female acquaintance told sheriff's deputies he had choked and restrained her.
Deputies responded to a call at 3:45 a.m. from Tila Nguyen, also known as Tila Tequila. The 27-year-old model and reality TV actress said Merriman had assaulted her when she tried to leave his home in Poway, a suburb north of San Diego. Nguyen was taken to a hospital, where she was treated and released.
Merriman was arrested after Nguyen said she would sign a complaint, and he was later released on bail. Nguyen, a Singapore-born American, has appeared in magazines and as the star of her own show, "A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila," which ran for two seasons.
The 25-year-old Merriman, 6 feet 4 and 270 pounds, was suspended by the NFL for four games in 2006 after he tested positive for a banned substance. A three-time Pro Bowl selection, he sat out most of the 2008 season because of a knee injury.
Merriman and Nguyen had been at a downtown San Diego nightclub until after 1 a.m., authorities said, adding that alcohol was a factor in the incident.
Merriman was cooperative with deputies and did not resist arrest, officials said. Several people were at the home when deputies arrived and have been interviewed.
Jan Caldwell, spokeswoman for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, said that deputies did not see any physical injuries on Nguyen: "That's not to stay they weren't there, the deputies just didn't see any," Caldwell said.
By procedure, deputies are required to make an arrest when someone signs a citizen's arrest form, as Nguyen did.
UPDATE***
NFL star Shawne Merriman has finally spoken out about the alleged choke out that he had with girlfriend Tila Tequila and in response Tila tweeted back.
Shawne talked to FoxSports.com about the alleged domestic incident with Tila and states that her actions were due to her being drunk:
On September 6, 2009 the San Diego Sheriff’s Department responded to a citizen’s complaint that was initiated by Tila Nguyen (aka TilaTequila). I was taken into custody based upon that complaint. At the time, I was concerned about her welfare given the intoxicated state she appeared to be in and I encouraged her to stay until safe transportation could be provided.
“We would all do our best to help a friend if we considered their actions to be detrimental to their personal safety. I in no way caused any harm to Ms. Nguyen, however, paramedics were called and she was examined but no injuries were reported. She was released and has since returned to Los Angeles, California.
“There have been no charges filed against me. I want to thank the San Diego Sheriff’s Department for their professionalism. I will continue to cooperate fully with the Department, and I look forward to clearing my name regarding these false allegations. I want to put this behind me so I can continue to focus on a successful season for the San Diego Chargers.”
Tila responded on her Twitter stating:
“I am allergic to alcohol. It has been publicly known for years. That is how I got the name Tila “Tequila” cuz the irony. I can’t drink”
Shawne can’t be that stupid to accuse someone of drinking who can’t really drink? And Tila can’t be stupid enough to believe that she is really allergic to alcohol… Something ain’t right
SOURCERead more…
Posted by ChasinDatPaper on September 5, 2009 at 12:00am
MR REAL TALK DVD ARLIS MICHAELS DELIVERS A HARD HITTING NEW MIXTAPE.DON'T SLEEP ON THIS CAT,GRAB THIS FREE DOWNLOAD ASAP & GET READY FOR MORE NEW MUSIC TO COME AS ARLIS PUT'S THE STREETS IN A CHOKEHOLD !
DOWNLOAD HERERead more…
Posted by ChasinDatPaper on September 4, 2009 at 12:00pm
Once again, the enormous and increasingly joyless shadow of Jay-Hova has been cast over the vast, still-Auto-Tuned expanse of hip-hop.
Set for official release on September 11 in conjunction with a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden for the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund (but already leaked online to mixed reaction), The Blueprint 3 is the latest full-length attempt by the kid humbly born Shawn Carter in Brooklyn's Marcy Projects to create a world-historical event horizon around what is essentially another slab of professionally produced rap product.
Sure, his contribution to the 9/11 cause is a wonderful, hometown gesture, and only fools question whether Jay-Z is still an ace MC—his meticulously composed lyrics are full of challenging flows, witty punning wordplay, and admirable attempts at social significance amid the usual narcissistic hoo-ha. And to be honest, the much-nitpicked American Gangster remains consistently underrated ("Roc Boys" easily ranks as one of his most exhilarating moments).
But overall, post 2003's The Black Album, Jay-Z has been, as a maker of simply enjoyable music, a bit of a pill (like his bratty semi-protégé Kanye West). He carries on as if his every artistic decision is a manifesto that'll have a crucial, altering impact on our daily lives. And he parses his lyrics as if they're texts that'll be pored over one day like the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Unfortunately, there's a pre-emptive sense that the new album is no big whoop. In fact, Jay's already diverting attention by hyping his next project as more "experimental," which is troubling, given his recent shout-out to the "inspiring" indie-rock "movement" after attending a Grizzly Bear show in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
I'll reserve judgment on the long-term merits of The Blueprint 3; it's got its highs and lows, and personally I'd rather rewatch the video of DMX rapid-fire babbling about getting in Jay's ass at a "pool hall in the Bronx," but that's just my pathology. For now, though, there's only one valid, critical question: Will The Blueprint 3 rock a Labor Day weekend barbecue?
Let's take the track list from the top and decide.
1. "What We Talkin' About" feat. Luke Steele of Empire of the Sun
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: If you're at the sort of barbecue where people dig extended semantic arguments over a sample of a fruity Australian psych-pop tune that could be a Xanadu outtake. But hopefully, you're actually having fun.
2. "Thank You"
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Indeed. The No. I.D./Kanye production has a laidback, free-flowin', '90s-money vibe with a reassuring horn bleat, while Jay precisely spouts a bunch of winningly arrogant bullshit like only he can. Welcome refrain: "We are really high / Really high tonight."
3. "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Yeah, but do you really want it to?
4. "Run This Town" feat. Kanye West and Rihanna
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Sure, who doesn't wanna imagine ruling whatever zip code you may inhabit while simultaneously air-guitaring and fantasizing about sipping Dom Perignon with Rihanna on a yacht in the Caribbean. Of course, you gotta listen to Kanye going on and on about how groupies only want him for his ends, but c'est la vie.
5. "Empire State of Mind" feat. Alicia Keys
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Weirdly, no. As nostalgic, name-dropping displays of overblown New York pride go, it's just a little too subdued; the piano-plinking production never goes anywhere, Alicia Keys sounds phoned-in, and the Anna Wintour reference is just plain goofy.
6. "Real As It Gets" feat. Young Jeezy
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Yep. The track, by Virginia duo the Inkredibles, is swaying synth drama with a soulful twinkle, and Jeezy and Hov come off like bosses with nothing to prove, which is a refreshing change of pace.
7. "On to Next One" feat. Swizz Beatz
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Eh. I'm usually up for Swizzy's kookier beats, but this one's like being trapped in a submarine with a class of chanting 6th graders.
8. "Off That" feat. Drake
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Not even close. Drake is a total non-factor and Timbaland's frantic, polyrhythmically incoherent beat will only make it harder to keep your friend of a friend's dodgy potato salad down.
9. "A Star Is Born" feat. J. Cole
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: No doubt! No. I.D. and Kanye's anthemic, edgy soul-clap backdrop pushes Jay to drop an effortlessly dazzling flow, and upstart affiliate J. Cole acquits himself well on a hungry cameo. Pump this after everybody's fifth beer and watch the hands wave skyward.
10. "Venus vs. Mars"
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Maybe, if the whole crew's blitheringly stinking drunk and desperate to hook up (in whatever way possible) with whoever's within slurring distance. Even then, this kinda blows. Remember when Timbaland and Jay-Z were a hip-hop Dream Team? Now, the New York Knicks have better chemistry.
11. "Hate" feat. Kanye West
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Not even if the Roc Nation business manager is manning the Weber.
12. "Reminder"
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Is Timbaland trying to make everybody nauseous? Another pointlessly off-kilter beat ruins some nifty rhymes: "I crushed Elvis in his blue suede shoes / Made the Rolling Stones seem as sweet as Kool-Aid too" and "Throwbacks, I threw 'em back / Remember those button-ups? / Young Hov, tell them ordinary Joes, Budden up."
13. "So Ambitious" feat. Pharrell
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Sorta. Flits from languidly combative to awkwardly obtuse and Jay-Z gets lost in the shuffle. The Neptunes' synth-quirk production never quite clicks, and then it does, and then it doesn't again.
14. "Young Forever" feat. Mr. Hudson
Will It Rock a Labor Day Barbecue: Perhaps, if you're a 39-year-old divorcee with not a goddamned thing to lose! Kanye samples Alphaville's 1984 synth-pop standard "Forever Young," Mr. Hudson croons the chorus like a super trooper, and Jay gets all aphoristically motivational on that ass. Designated drivers, you have my sympathies.
Source:Spin MagazineRead more…
BallerStatus Reports
Adam "Pacman" Jones' off-the-field behavior may have ended his pro football prematurely, after both the NFL and CFL turn their backs on him.
Back in January, the Dallas Cowboys cut Jones from their roster, due to his off-the-field conduct. He was limited to just six games last season after an off-field scuffle with a member of the security detail provided by the team.
In 2007, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended the former first-round draft pick of the Tennessee Titans for his part in a 2007 shooting outside a Las Vegas strip club.
Following the loss of interest from the NFL, Jones has reportedly begun to talk to CFL teams.
Just this week, it was announced that he would play for the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers. However, the team said Wednesday (September 2) that they had ended their pursuit of the controversial ex-NFL cornerback.
"It is unfortunate that this situation became public; however, our position has remained consistent," Blue Bombers coach Mike Kelly said in a statement. "We will pursue athletes that we believe will contribute to our organization on and off the field.
Jones' personal antics has cost him a lot of money. While he lost close to $1.6 million during his 2007 suspension, he ended up with a cool six-figure salary as a Dallas Cowboy. That ended though.
If he would've landed in Canada, his salary would've been around $60,000.
Pacman Jones was the sixth-overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans. While his career started off slowly, he showed signs of greatness when he broke out in his sophomore season, leading the league in punt return average with 12.9 yards, and ranked seventh in the league in kick return average.
However, it's always been his behavior off-the-field that had teams worried, even from the beginning of his career.
Here's a quote from Wikipedia about the troubles he gave he Titan immediately after being drafted:
After his junior year, Jones opted to forgo his senior year and declare eligible for the NFL Draft. He was the first defensive player drafted, taken sixth overall by the Tennessee Titans in the 2005 NFL Draft.
He then missed most of training camp, holding out in a contract dispute. According to then-Titans general manager Floyd Reese, the Titans were concerned over several off-the-field incidents that happened immediately after the draft, as well as a fight that landed him on probation while he was at West Virginia. Reese said that contract talks broke down when Jones initially balked at the Titans' proposed safeguards, but agreed that he wouldn't be paid any guaranteed or bonus money if he were ever convicted of a crime.
Despite the loss of interest from the NFL and CFL, the United Football League has shown interest, according to a report from AOL's BlackVoices. Their season starts in October.
Other troubled NFL stars who played in the CFL while trying to jump-start their careers include Ricky Williams, Andre Rison and Lawrence Phillips.
Will Pacman ever get another chance in the NFL? Michael Vick did right? What do you think?
Read more…
Posted by ChasinDatPaper on September 3, 2009 at 11:58pm
NY Daily News Reports
A serious of egregious errors resulted in the deaths of two people, after medical staff released a mentally ill convicted killer from the mental health center where he was living.
Peter Bryan, a schizophrenic, cannibal and convicted murderer was released from the medium-security Riverside House to a hostel where he was free to come and go, according to an article in the British paper, the Telegraph.
Merely three hours after his discharge from the facility in 2004, he killed Brian Cherry, a friend, and cooked part of his brain, the paper stated.
After that murder, Bryan was sent to Broadmore secure hospital, where not even 10 days later he attacked and killed Richard Loudwell, a fellow patient.
Two inquiries into Bryan's case faulted National Health Service managers for leaving the now 39-year-old killer in the care of a social worker with no mental health training and who was in over his head dealing with a notoriously manipulative patient, according to the London Evening Standard.
However, the reports noted that the nature of his condition meant that Bryan was incredibly manipulative, and able to appear normal even as his mental health was incredibly deteriorated.
The reports "outlined a catalogue of errors" according to the Telegraph, in the treatment of Bryan following his 1993 murder of Nisha Sheth, a shop assistant whom he beat to death with a hammer.
Read more…
Posted by ChasinDatPaper on September 3, 2009 at 10:01pm
Details Reports
Like most guys of my generation—I'm on the downslide to 40—I have fond memories of my first experience with pornography. I was 14 years old and my best friend had just discovered his father's secret stash. We gathered in his basement and delicately turned the pages as if they might disintegrate. I asked him if I could borrow a few mags "just for the night," which in hindsight was a pretty bold request. I was, after all, essentially announcing my intention to masturbate. Slipping past my parents with the stack of old Hustlers stuffed inside my jacket, I somehow made it to my bedroom and, not believing my good fortune, stayed up all night relishing the spoils.
To the modern 14-year-old, the scenario would be laughably quaint: There's no stash to be hidden these days. You can "clear history," along with any residual shame, in one click. At each adolescent fingertip is an inexhaustable stream of high-def images and Flash video—some 400 million pornographic Web pages in all. The sheer breadth is staggering: If you watched porn 24 hours a day, for example, it would take you several years just to get caught up on the 13,588 professional titles released in the United States in 2005 alone. Plenty more is out there in bulk on the digital shelf, no credit card required: bestiality, piss-drinking, throat-fucking, bukkake gang bangs, triple anal penetrations—all exhaustively cross-referenced. Any day now, some poor kid may actually go blind masturbating.
The awkward truth, according to one study, is that 90 percent of 8-to-16-year-olds have viewed pornography online. Considering the standard climax to even the most vanilla hard-core scene today, that means there is an entire generation of young people who think sex ends with a money shot to the face. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where the age divide falls, but it's safe to say that the first purebred guinea pig to have grown up never knowing a world without fisting on demand is probably around 22 years old.
By the time they're in high school, America's porn-fed youth have already amassed an encyclopedic knowledge of smut. Seth Rogen, cowriter of Superbad—which features a now-classic scene of teenage boys graphically discussing hard-core sites—recently told me that one of his favorite pastimes is trolling porn message boards. "It's hilarious how much these kids know," Rogen says. "There'll be arguments like 'This is classified as gonzo, but I would say it's more of a feature-BDSM. Also, they say this clip is taken from Handjobs #8, but this scene was actually first featured in Killer Grips #7.'"
Rogen might as well have been talking about brothers Travis and Cody, typical 21-year-old college students in Florida who tell me there's one criterion at the top of their list when it comes to picking a fuck buddy. "Pubic hair is disgusting," Travis says. "Girls should keep their vaginas porn-star trim." Cody describes his first real-life ejaculate-to-the-face finale like this: "It was the happiest moment of my young life. There is just something about blowing a load in a chick's face that makes you feel like a man."
For most men over 30, facials aren't something you actually do. They're like car chases or hurling someone through a plate-glass window—the difference between cinema and life. But the ubiquity of porn has blurred the line. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control, the number of heterosexuals having anal sex nationwide has almost doubled since 1992.
But boys have always been perverts. Since a facial requires a female to receive it, the real story might be the apparent surge in the number of willing participants. In Immersion: Porn, a documentary by New York photographer Robbie Cooper, 22-year-old Lindsay sees the act as empowering to women. "Even if she has eight dicks on her face, she's still the queen of those eight dicks," she says. "I definitely like come on the face."
Former State Department staffer Mary Eberstadt, writing in Policy Review, compares the prevailing attitudes about porn to the general consensus on tobacco in the 1960s. "[Porn] is widely seen as cool, especially among younger people, and this coveted social status further reduces the already low incentive for making a public issue of it."
Of course, porn doesn't cause cancer, though it may cause homemade sex tapes and hot cam-on-cam IM action (playing in a locked suburban bedroom near you). And it almost certainly causes cell-phone-picture taking: According to a 2008 survey, one in five teenagers have sent an explicit photo of themselves to someone else or posted one online.
The sea change is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the burgeoning crop of young actresses flocking to the industry. Joanna Angel of BurningAngel.com, a veteran porn actress at 28, describes doing a three-way recently with a 19-year-old girl new to the business. "It was her first scene ever, so I was like, 'Don't worry—just follow my lead,'" she recalls. "But then the scene started, and the way she was giving a blow job and the things she was saying and the way she was moaning—I was like, 'What the fuck?' When I was 19, I was not giving blow jobs that were nearly that exciting. The girls these days just seem to come to the set porn-ready."
In fact, "porn-readiness" is now a source of pride. While on tour promoting her memoir, Jenna Jameson was reportedly stunned that 13-year-old girls kept telling her she was their role model. In a survey of 1,000 British girls between the ages of 15 and 19, roughly 25 percent said they aspired to become professional lap dancers. "Dirty Angel," 22, who writes a blog called Tastes Like Kisses and started surfing porn in her early teens, says, "It was watching [adult star] Heather Brooke that gave me the mind-blowing skills I have now when it comes to giving a blow job."
To those of us who came of age in the eighties and nineties—the dinosaurs once naïvely content with even the most terrible, chafing teen hand job—it feels a bit like looking down from an attic window onto the Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love. Let the young have their Twitter and their Jonas Brothers—we have no interest. But this kind of hurts. Of course, we're not all missing out on the fun. The Brett Ratners, the Silvio Berlusconis, the thirtysomething divorcés of the world—they will carry the mantle for us and hopefully report back. At least those in good cardiovascular health.
Read more…
MTVNEWS Reports
Young French, or French Montana as he's now known, is ready for the big time.
You've heard of French if you've been reading Mixtape Monday and Mixtape Daily over the past several years. He started making a name for himself with his street DVD series "Cocaine City." He then transitioned to the mic, most recently garnering buzz with Max B for their Coke Wave connection.
He signed with Akon's Konvict Music earlier this year, and now he's ready to sell some records. French is hoping to keep his 'hood momentum going towards the charts after leaking his new single, "Married to the Streets," which features Akon singing on the hook.
" 'Kon had a bunch of records for me," French said, explaining how the song was created. "It sounded like real pop, like Lady Gaga. I hollered at my producer, like, 'Send something to me.' 'Kon's sound changed. It came from 'Locked Up' to another sound. So, when I did that with him, it was a street record. That's how I wanted it to be. Working with Akon is like working with somebody I look up to. I admire his work. I had to come correct. I knew my sound."
French said the reason he wanted to ink with Konvict was obvious: He wanted to be a part of Akon's successful wave.
"As far as I look at Akon, all his artists are successful," he said. "He's got T-Pain, Lady Gaga, all these artists and they're all successful, out touring. There's not too many people you can say that about except for 50 Cent. 50 has Yayo, Banks — they're out there looking good. Plus, Akon gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. We're out rocking and rolling."
French and 'Kon linked up through SRC Records President Gaby Acevedo.
"[Akon] was in Florida, so he sent for me," French recalled. "I went down there to see him for a week. He was like, 'You can't leave until you sign the contract.' What's up? I went down there and played him all the music. He was like, 'Oh, God!'
Read more…
HipHopWired Reports
Mike Epps has been named as the latest in a line of Black comics to host BET's annual Hip-Hop Awards. Coming live from Atlanta's Bousfeuillet Jones Civic Center, the famed comedic actor will help the world celebrate some of the biggest names and personalities in the entertainment business today with the hopes of topping the star-studded affair that was last year's show. Stephen Hill, President of Music and Programming at BET, stated:
“We are very happy to be coming back to ‘The A' for the fourth go at the BET Hip-Hop Awards. We embrace the opportunity to amplify all aspects of the Hip-Hop culture; the music, the dance, the sense of community and as we have before, we expect to do so with excitement...and with my man Mike Epps on board as our new host, we'll do it with reckless abandon. And we don't stop.”
The funny man from Indianapolis will provide a popular fact to an award show that is still in its infancy, a fact that often adds to its unpredictability. Last year saw megastar T-Pain assume hosting duties after Kat Williams, whom was originally slated to host the affair, walked out on the show after a spat with several BET executives.
Not one to be pigeonheld, Epps is releasing a comedy album on the same day as the premiere of this year's show. Entitled “Funny Bidness,” the Indianapolis native will be featured alongside Hip-Hop heavyweights such as Snoop Dogg and Slim Thug as well as share an interesting track with rapper-turned-rocker, Kid Rock.
Fans with cable or satellite access will also be able to catch Epps performing his trademark stand-up comedy stylings on a Showtime Network entitled “Under-rated and Never faded-Live from Detroit,” which will premiere on October 3rd.
The BET Hip-Hop Awards will be held on October 10 and initially air on October 27 at 8 p.m.
Read more…
}