Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina is obviously going through a tough time since the loss of her mother several weeks ago. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey which aired Sunday [March 11] the 19-year old says she can still feel her mom's presence in her home.
"Throughout the house lights turn on and off and I'm like, 'Mom what are you doing?'" she told Oprah. "I can still sit there and laugh with her. I can still sit there and talk to her."
The Notorious B.I.G.'s death hit the entire hip-hop community hard. Family, friends and fans mourned when Biggie died March 9, 1997. His children lost a father, his mother lost a son and the rap world lost one of the all-time greats.
Big's friends and collaborators were affected too. In a 1998 interview with MTV News, Jay-Z talked about how Biggie's tragic death weighed on him and ultimately changed the course of his sophomore album, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1.
"A lot of different songs were influenced by what was happening. 'City Is Mine,' the first verse, you could just hear it. I think two hooks on there came from songs that he had previously recorded," Jay said of the LP that he dropped eight months after his friend passed away
Vol. 1's "City Is Mine" served as a letter to the deceased. On the song's first verse, Jay raps, "What the deal, playboy? Just rest your soul." From there, Jay vows that "a world with amnesia" wouldn't forget Biggie's name, and then he proceeded to take Big's reins as the rap king of New York.
Though there were some bright moments on Jay's first Def Jam release, songs like the Kraftwerk-sampling "(Always Be My) Sunshine" were few and far between. Jay's experience in the studio was different from when he crafted his 1996 debut, when he had B.I.G. to help push his artistic boundaries.
"The album to me — this album wasn't fun to me like Reasonable Doubt,because it was like, it seemed really slow to me, and I didn't set out to do that, just looking back now and listening to it now," he said somberly in the 1998 interview.
Big wasn't physically in the studio; Jay revealed that the only song the Brooklyn Don got to hear and give feedback on from Vol. 1 was the dark and brooding "Streets Is Watching." Still, Big was well-represented on the album. Aside from "City Is Mine," Big got a special shout-out on "Friend or Foe '98," when Hov famously offered to throw some ice up to heaven for "the nicest MC." Jay also recycled Biggie's rhymes on the hooks to "Face Off" and "Real N*ggaz." The Sauce Money-assisted "Face Off" borrowed its chorus from Biggie's intro ad libs on his 1997 album cut "Nasty Boy," and "Real N*ggaz" got its hook from a freestyle B.I.G. did over a string of Dr. Dre instrumentals before he passed. Then there was the melancholy "Lucky Me," on which Jay briefly speculated on his own death and questioned if fame was all that it was cracked up to be. "There's a lot of emotions on the album, and that was definitely influenced by what was goin' on and what had happened," Jay-Z said.
On Wednesday's "RapFix Live," Lil' Kim spoke on the Notorious One's relationship with Jigga. "He and Jay-Z just had this adorable friendship — it was the cutest," she said. "They were so competitive with each other, but it was such a friendly competitiveness, and I loved it, because that's how it's supposed to be when you like somebody."
When B.I.G. passed, that friendly competition was lost. "I don't have anyone to bounce off of, you understand? We bounced off each other like, 'Oh that was crazy; I gotta make something crazier.' When you don't have that, you don't have that gauge," Jay said. "It's just hard to adjust; you have to find other ways to motivate yourself."
Hov seems to have adjusted just fine. When Biggie died in 1997, Jay only had one album under his belt and was on his way to releasing his second. Now, 15 years later, Jay has built a career that is unmatched with 11 solo albums and a number of collaborative releases with R. Kelly, Linkin Park and Kanye West. But back in 1998, Jay could only use one word to describe Big's legacy: "Unparalleled. There'll never be another person to come along to fill that void."
Some of the biggest names in the business will take part in this year's Openair Frauenfeld in Switzerland.
The three day event takes place from July 6-8. Check out the full lineup below.
50 Cent Drake Nas Sean Paul Rick Ross Wiz Khalifa Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) J. Cole Beginner Sido Mac Miller, Tinie Tempah Jedi Mind Tricks Max Herre and friends Samy Deluxe K.IZ Marsimoto Yelawolf A$AP Rocky Royce 5'9 Dilated Peoples Phenomden Steff la Cheffe Liricas Analas Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Prince Pi Raf 3.0 Kollegah & Favorite Lo Leduc & feat. Pacôme Dabu Fantastic
UFC President Dana White needs to do something quick or risk losing one of the most popular fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is adamant that he will only fight one more time for the organization, then he will leave for what he hopes are greener pastures. And by greener, I mean more money. The problem for Jackson is that the UFC has a stranglehold on the sport.
The UFC's parent company Zuffa, LLC has bought out World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), Pride Fighting Chamionships, Strikeforce and World Fighting Alliance (WFA). What that means is if you plan of fighting in mixed martial arts you will either fight for the UFC or starve.
In the past week Rampage has twice stated he's done fighting for the UFC after his next bout.
"I feel sorry for my next opponent, no matter who or what it is," Jackson wrote via Twitter several days ago. "I will fight whoever they put in front of me — I always have — but it will be my last fight in the UFC. I have other things on my mind. I didn't say I would be done fighting; I just said I'm not fighting for the UFC (u fight cheap)."
According to Yahoo Sports Jackson was paid $325,000 for UFC 96 in 2009. A win against Keith Jardine. Since that time he has fought five more times in the Octagon with only two wins. One of those losses was a championship fight against Jon "Bones" Jones.
It's being reported that the UFC has asked Rampage to take a pay cut because he is losing audience "appeal" which is probably what set him off.
Rampage's record now stands at 32-10. At 33-year's old his options are limited, but despite being told he has lost his "appeal" fans still like to see him fight because he goes for the knockout every time. But his temper may get the best of him. Check out his most recent Twitter rant below.
If this keeps up we may not be seeing much more of Rampage in the Octagon.
The Odd Future crew are out on the road in support of their upcoming project OF Tape Vol 2. Here's some footage of the crew as they touch down in Tempe, Arizona on March 9th for a show and to meet fans and sign autographs at their pop up store.
Two Philly heavy spitters Gille Da Kid and Beanie Sigel link up for "Blow My High." The track is off of Gillie and DJ Drama's Gangsta Grillz mixtape King of Philly, available now.
Even when Kanye West and Jay-Z tear something apart it's still worth money.
The Maybach 57 the two rap titans wheeled around in their video for "Otis" went up auction Thursday [March 8] and sold for $60,000 in less than five minutes. The price was less than the pre-sale estimate of $100,000 to $150,000 by auction house Phillips de Pury & Co, but then again the car was basically destroyed in the Spike Jonze directed video.
The vehicle normally retails for $375,000 when new.
Proceeds from the sale went to benefit the Save the Children organization to provide food for children in Africa.
The rift between Bobby Brown and his daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown appears to be widening.
Bobbi is Brown's only child with late singer Whitney Houston. TMZ is reporting that the 19-year old wants nothing to do with him and that includes having his name.
According to the report, Bobbi has wanted to change her name for some some time, but her mother wouldn't let her. Now that Whitney is gone Bobbi is free to do as she pleases and wants to be known simply as Kristina Houston.
As we previously reported, Azealia Banks expressed her displeasure with Iggy Azalea being named to the 2012 XXL Freshman cover, citing a supposed racist lyric Iggy said. Within the last couple of days Iggy's Grand Hustle boss T.I. came to her defense.
"Strategically if {Azealia Banks] really cares about a freshmen cover maybe she could hope that she’ll suck enough to get shelved and then next year when the freshmen cover comes back around, maybe she’ll still be a freshman," he said "Which brings me to my next philosophy. If you spend half of your day getting money and the other half of your day counting money, you ain’t got no time in your day to worry about nobody else.”
Banks didn't waste much time in firing back at Tip. She took to Twitter yesterday to get at him.
"Lol I NEVER needed the next n*gga to sit up on a radio show with me and defend me," Banks wrote. "Furthermore, n*ggas r sitting up here trying to mask/defend what homegirl said. F*ck outta here. Everybody got something slick to say, but no one got an explanation. Come on T.I.... N*ggas is not scared of u and whatever sh*t u got to say on some radio show. @tip you corny for that one. LMFAOO how u a grown man commenting on what's going on between two girls. Come on son. Stop it. Ruin my career: what f*cking ever... Y'all wish."
Looks like this one might be going on for a while.
When Robert Deniro hits a club, he makes sure it's packed with A-list celebrities. The 68-year old veteran actor was recently spotted at Atlanta’s Vanquish Nightclub with T.I. The two reportedly didn't arrive together, but Tip paid his respects once he found out Deniro was in the building.
Other stars on hand included Trey Songz, Fabolous, Wale, Def Jam exec. Bu Thiam, Kenny Burns and Ne-Yo's finance Monyetta Shaw.
Deniro is reportedly in Atlanta filming the movie The Killing Season with John Travolta.
As everyone knows by now Iggy Azalea made the 2012 XXL Freshman cover, becoming the first woman to do so. Almost immediately there was controversy as another female rapper, Harlem's Azealia Banks took offense to it.
We reported on the story and got a lot of feedback from our Thisis50 members, but there had not been a direct public response from Iggy or her Grand Hustle boss T.I. until now.
During a recent interview with DJ Drama the two addressed the conflict.
"Was she not happy with Iggy being on there or was Azealia Banks unhappy because she was not on there?" Tip asked. "Because if I am someone and I am moving and shaking and doing my thing, I don't care what's going on outside of my circle because my circle is being successful."
Tip then said he didn't know who Azealia was and had never heard her music.
"This is my day and it's my achievement," added Iggy. "So, you have to work to have your own achievements, with all due respect. Instead of worrying about who else is on there, you should just be happy that I’m on there as a woman for women. And if you wanna have an achievement work and have your own achievement. I can’t take what’s meant for you and you can’t take what’s meant for me.”
Tip threw one more dart Azealia's way before he was done.
"Strategically if she really cares about a freshmen cover maybe she could hope that she’ll suck enough to get shelved and then next year when the freshmen cover comes back around, maybe she’ll still be a freshman," he said "Which brings me to my next philosophy. If you spend half of your day getting money and the other half of your day counting money, you ain’t got no time in your day to worry about nobody else.”
Jacob Acaye, the former child soldier featured in the “Kony 2012″ viral sensation, told ABC News Friday that although attention from the film was overwhelming, his life was good now and it was important for people to see the video.
“It’s a hard movie,” he said today in an exclusive interview. “It brought back some memories. … I still don’t know when will it end. The more time is ticking, the more people are dying. The more people are still suffering. The more people [are] being abducted.”
At the age of 11, Acaye was one of 41 youth taken from a Ugandan village by Joseph Kony, the leader of the rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army.
In the video, Acaye, who escaped from the LRA, was interviewed by videographer Jason Russell, a cofounder of the San Diego-based charity Invisible Children Inc.
“We worry. The rebels when they arrest us again, then they will kills us,” he says in the video. “My brother tried to escape. Then they killed him. … They cut his neck. … I saw.”
“Kony 2012″ has garnered nearly 65 million views since Monday. It is part of a campaign by Invisible Children to bring Kony to justice, although the group has faced its own critics for its religious affiliations and financial practices.
In “Kony 2012,” he tells Russell that even though he’s not with the LRA, he wants to die. Then, at least, he would be reunited with his brother.
“No one is taking care of us,” he says. “We are not going to school.”
Acaye is now 21 and studying to become a lawyer at Uganda’s Makerere University — it’s a wish he shared in the 30-minute film released by Invisible Children.
He said that when the video was shot — he was 13 — he did not think it would reach this level of success.
“By then, I was like really, really invisible — like real meaning of invisible children,” he said. “We are like the children who are not seen. Children who are not even knowing that they are suffering.”
Acaye told ABC News today that while the video reminded him of horrible memories of his childhood, it made people aware of Kony.
“If they [people] know and they have seen and they could learn that Kony is still being the same in that movie, they can think about what to do,” he said. “And they can think about what they can do.”
Human rights groups say the LRA has terrorized Central Africa for more than 20 years, killing and maiming thousands of civilians and forcing children to become young soldiers. Kony and his commanders are wanted by the International Criminal Court.
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