Anthony Lawrence (l.) and Shamel King are charged with dealing drugs.NY Daily News Reports
Members of a brazen Brooklyn crack gang raked in more than $500,000 in taxpayer money by repeatedly suing the city for civil rights violations, records show.
Accused drug dealers from the East 21st St. Crew and associates sued the city more than 20 times - and the city settled every time, even though many of the same people sued again and again.
The reason: The city's policy of aggressively settling cases rather than risk a big judgment after a costly trial.
Law enforcement officials are outraged at the repercussions.
"They [the reputed drug dealers] are raising hell in the community and collecting judgments on top of it," one police source said. "They were emboldened; taunting cops."
Authorities say the gang ran a street-level crack operation that wreaked havoc on an East Flatbush neighborhood before being busted last month.
Investigators say they have gang members on tape making more than 100 sales to undercover cops in two years.
"This was a very violent crack crew," city Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said. "A real thorn in the side of the community."
Incredibly, court records show the gang pulled in much better money from suing the city in Brooklyn Federal Court, claiming cops violated their civil rights.
One crew member, Shamel King, got $117,500 from the city, in six separate claims, including one for $35,000 and three for $20,000 each. King, charged with 37 sales, was caught on video smiling as he counted out crack rocks, a law enforcement source said.
A main target of the East 21st St. Crew, Anthony Lawrence, was shot multiple times and wounded Aug. 31 in his apartment, apparently by gunmen who went to rob him of his latest settlement check from the city - for $17,500, law enforcement sources said. Lawrence collected $40,000 in settlements. He was indicted on 11 counts of drug selling.
Another reputed crew member, Affection Johnson, got three settlements totaling $41,500. Johnson was indicted on 39 counts.
"It's crazy," said Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association. "How could this happen more than once?"
Law Department spokeswoman Connie Pankratz said, "Within the last 10 years, there has been a significant increase in the number of cases that we've settled."
She said the city is sued 200 times a week, and that claims against the police have increased.
As of July 1, the city has paid out $637.7 million in judgments and settlements this year.
The department "is responsible for protecting the city's [fiscal situation]," she said. "Although we are often successful at trial, it can be more expensive to defend a case than to settle it."
She said that since the indictment, these cases were being reviewed "at the highest levels" of the department.
Asked if the agency would make any changes to prevent such an egregious playing of the system, she said, "We would like to prevent this, but each case has to be weighed."
Asked if city lawyers checked into King's background after the first three suits, Pankratz said they believed it was more responsible to settle than go to trial.
In the suits, some of which date back several years, the accused dealers claimed that cops - most of them assigned to Brooklyn South Narcotics - fabricated cases, conducted illegal strip searches, falsely arrested them and harassed them while they were merely walking down the street.
They sued after their arrests were dropped or adjourned contemplating dismissal.
The majority of the suits were handled by lawyer Richard Cardinale, who was successful in a class-action suit against the city for illegal strip searches at Rikers Island, and in cases against Brooklyn South Narcotics cops.
He said the clients paid him one-third of their settlements as his fee.
"The cases that I brought, those individuals were innocent of those charges," Cardinale said. "The district attorney had dismissed the cases."
He suggested the recent indictment was retaliation.
"I spoke to some of the families, and they said the officers who arrested them made comments like, 'You like to bring stupid lawsuits?'"
The dozen accused members of the East 21st St. Crew were indicted in September. Eight were arrested; four already were in jail.
Undercovers made dozens of crack purchases in and around the Ditmas Arms on E. 21st St., where King and Lawrence live.
Brennan said the gang made 171 sales to undercovers totaling $10,460, many from inside Star USA, a 99 cent store at Flatbush and Ditmas Aves.
Cops started focusing on drug-dealing in the area after community complaints and shootings in the vicinity linked to feuding gangs.
One shooting, still unsolved, took place on July 30, 2007, outside 501 E. 21st St. near Dorchester Road. Gunmen killed Robert Dixon - who had a criminal record for marijuana possession and assault - in a hail of bullets. Two women who were walking by were wounded.
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Posted by Mr.I Get It on October 11, 2009 at 6:34am
www.ballerstatus.comDespite being up for nine nominations, Kanye West was a no-show for the 4th Annual BET Hip Hop Awards Saturday evening (October 10). T.I. was also a no-show, but he has a reason ... he's in prison.T.I. took home two awards -- best collaboration award for "Live Your Life" with Rihanna, and album of the year for Paper Trail.In his absence, his fiancee Tameka "Tiny" Cottle accepted his awards, and read a letter by the rapper, who began serving a year-long sentence in late May."Although I'm not there with you all, I'm there in spirit," she quoted the rapper as writing. "My road to redemption is almost over. ... Thanks for the support."As for other winners, Jay-Z took home the MVP of the Year honor, while newcomer Drake accepted the Rookie of the Year award.The legendary Ice Cube was in attendance, and was honored with BET's "I Am Hip-Hop" icon award. Credited with helping pioneer the gangsta rap genre, Cube said he was humbled by the honor.Then later in the ceremony, the late DJ AM received the DJ of the Year honor. Rapper Busta Rhymes presented the award.Other show highlights included a performance by Jay-Z and Young Jeezy with "Real As It Gets," and a recently reunited Goodie Mob performing their 1995 hit "Cell Therapy."Other performers included Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Gucci Mane, and Soulja Boy.Mike Epps served as the evening's host.The awards show is set to air October 27th on BET.Winners mentioned above are:MVP of the Year: Jay-ZRookie of the Year: DrakeBest Hip-Hop Collabo: T.I. & Rihanna - "Live Your Life"DJ of the Year: DJ AMI Am Hip-Hop Award: Ice Cube
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Video After The Jump
Thank God for youtube, In this rare clip we get to see a pre-glam Lady Gaga. I have to give credit to whoever discovered her because based on this video i'm 100% sure I wouldn't have given her a record deal, but then again i'm not an A&R. Doesn't matter a whole lot now because she's become an international star. I just thought this was hilarious.
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London Times Online Reports
As Stacy Ann Ferguson the most famous woman on earth we know next to nothing about? This year, with her group the Black Eyed Peas (if in doubt, turn on the radio), she has spent a record-breaking consecutive 26 weeks at the top of the US singles chart. This Christmas she’ll be singing the showstopper in Nine, the Oscar-bait musical co-starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Nicole Kidman, after the producer Harvey Weinstein personally earmarked her for the role. Then there’s her clothing line, her film-star husband and a solo album that has shifted several million copies. In fact, she has every clichéd accoutrement of modern fame going, yet mention her to people (well, people who read Grazia) and they only ever recall two facts about the woman we have come to know as “the other Fergie”. One, she used to be addicted to crystal meth. Two, she once wet herself on stage.
Both bits of data turn out to be true — and her crystal-meth days were far from a hoot. It got dark. Really dark. When, a couple of years ago, she was asked to confirm if it was true that she once got so out of her tree that she spent eight hours talking to a hamster, Fergie replied solemnly: “It wasn’t a hamster. It was a hamper.” Though it’s been 10 years since she last used (she was only drugging heavily for a year), at 34 she’s still plagued by gossip mags who delight in publishing pictures of her looking rough — or, to use their preferred term, “meth-faced”. Mean-spirited, but you can understand the fascination. In the squeaky-clean world of noughties pop, can you think of anyone other than Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown who’s confessed to being on intimate terms with a crack pipe?
Add to this Fergie’s Catholic upbringing, the years she spent as a child star on American TV, a wanton interest in her own sex, and that lackadaisical bladder, and you’ll appreciate why I thought: “She must be interviewed!” But how? If you’re the biggest-selling pop phenomenon of the year, your schedule fills up fast. It takes four changes of date and three changes of city to pin her down. We end up meeting in Aspen, Colorado (lovely, like Switzerland with fat people), on a crisp, autumn afternoon, at a Shining-style hotel perched on a cliff. Fergie is in town to perform with the Peas at an open-air music festival. I’m standing in the hotel’s dingy ballroom chatting to Stefan, our photographer, when she arrives with a modest entourage. My first thought on spying her is: “Bloody hell!” Fergie is sporting a black leather and spandex catsuit, 4in heels, false eyelashes that would do Daisy the Cow proud, and make-up that appears to have been applied with a paintgun. She looks like a Bratz doll brought to life.
Thankfully, it turns out this is actually her stage slap for the show, but there’s no doubting she screams sex. One of the most googled questions about Fergie is how she got her body, which she confesses to “sculpting” in the gym because she loves the erotic charge it gives her. Fair do’s. It’s Teutonic, and Fergie wields it like a weapon. Her physical confidence is off the chart. She slinks over and places a strategic hand on my forearm, squeezing just so. “Well, hello,” she says, her voice a throaty half-octave below that of your average pop princess. “Shall we begin?” It takes all my willpower not to blush.
Actually, she has to sit for Stefan first, so I return an hour later to take her for coffee in a restaurant upstairs. Escorting her through the bustling hotel, I begin to appreciate how Richard Gere must have felt squiring a thigh-booted Julia Roberts across the hotel lobby in Pretty Woman. The tourists stare slack-jawed as her spandexed form struts past. She smiles and waves naughtily, eliciting more than a few gasps, before we find a quiet table on a veranda with a spectacular view of the Rockies. Then, just as I’m thinking how licentious she looks against this backdrop of wholesome beauty, she begins to talk, revealing something quite unexpected: Fergie has a brain.
Who knew? I suppose, given the boobalicious nature of her day job (standard Black Eyed Peas lyric: “My hump, my hump, my lovely lady lumps”), it’s easy to miss the fact that when she graduated from her high school in Hacienda Heights, an LA suburb, Fergie could have gone to Harvard if she’d fancied it. But as she begins to reminisce about growing up as the daughter of two school teachers, it all comes gushing out: the straight As, the stint as president of her student council, and the fact she was a leading light in her local girl-scout troupe. All the while, she was holding down a full career as a child actress. Talk about overachieving. Fergie is Condoleezza Rice — if Condi knew how to execute a booty shake.
She says people are routinely flummoxed to discover she was a whiz. She puts it down to her devoted parents and a mystical work ethic buried deep in her Irish/Mexican/Native American blood. “We went to church every week and it was all about positive reinforcement. If I wanted to get my own phone line, or go to a slumber party, it was about the grades.” So how come you didn’t go to university? She looks startled at the question. “I got a record deal when I was 17 with Wild Orchid [a defunct girl group], so I moved right out to Hollywood to pursue my career.”
How were your folks about it?
“They were fine, of course. I was making money, I was an adult — why would they want to convince me otherwise when I was becoming successful at the exact thing that I wanted? They knew my drive, they knew my hunger for it all.”
Her face hardens into the weathered expression of a survivor. Suddenly, she seems less like the glorified go-go dancer I’d imagined, more a bullish product of the American dream. In fact, it sounds like her ambition bordered on scary, and I don’t think it came just from Mum and Dad. Apparently, she was so driven as a tot that, in the second grade, her teacher pulled her mother aside and demanded that young Stacy be put on Ritalin to calm her down. Mum refused, thank God. Fergie has an addictive personality (more of which later), though back then the only thing she was addicted to was showbiz.
“It started out with my mum taking me to the local theatre,” she explains. “We’d watch a lot of musicals — The King and I, West Side Story, Peter Pan. That’s what really influenced me. I saw girls up there my age doing Annie, so I said, ‘Mum, I wanna do this.’ I started with a local theatre group for kids and the leader of that helped me get an agent. After school, I’d go to the front office to see if I had any auditions that day, get my script, then into the car on the way to Hollywood doing my homework, look at my lines, then straight to dance class after some fast food — that’s how I lived as a child. She adds, “I had a social security number at age seven,” meaning she has been paying tax since she was a child.
Sounds borderline cruel to me, but cute, confident Fergie loved it, working in commercials until she got her break in the children’s sitcom Kids Incorporated, aged nine. Filming it knocked out all her summer holidays for five years. She ploughed on, but was happy when she outgrew the show and, after dating fellow kidult Justin Timberlake and discovering gangsta rap, formed the girl group Wild Orchid with a former co-star. And lo, trouble brewed. With the same crushing naivety that has dogged every sleb prodigy from Shirley Temple to Lindsay Lohan, Fergie imagined her transition from child to adult star would be seamless. To be fair, it started out okay. “I left home and moved in with one of the girls in the group, Stephanie. It was great times. I bleached my hair platinum-blonde. It was fun.” Fun until she came home with a drug habit. By her mid-twenties, Wild Orchid was tanking.
“I thought it would be disloyal if I left, but I wasn’t happy any more with the music we were doing,” she says. “I really internalised it and found my outlet in the underground club scene and the raves.” It didn’t help that she developed a predilection for Hispanic “Cholo” gang members (she has a thing for guns). Was her clubbing escapist? “No, it was a creative outlet. It was all, ‘Let’s experiment with dance, let’s experiment with colour.’ You know?” I look bemused. “I’d be the girl up on the stage with the glow stick,” she laughs. “I had a blast, but those things can only last for so long. I’m actually lucky that I hit it as hard as I did because it took me to a place where I knew I never wanted to do it again.”
It’s a coup that she’s willing to talk about this. These days, pop stars are so well schooled in the blah-blah art of question-dodging they’ll scarcely express a preference for Coke or Pepsi. Fergie is different, a curious mix of hard and soft: one moment she’ll be effusing about the restorative powers of hypnotherapy, the next be somewhat blasé about the perils of life as an addict.
She gives a wry smile. “Sometimes publicists get really mad with me for talking about stuff like that — but I don’t care.” She cocks her head.
“For me, it’s something I went through. It’s an epidemic, and it’s important to talk about it because it’s a very, very hard thing to stop.”
How did it start? “It started with ecstasy. I loved ecstasy. Loved it, loved it. It was great at first, then it just went...” she mimes a crashing plane with her forearm. And crystal meth? “It ruins you.” Some days she became insanely paranoid, blacking out the windows in her apartment, convinced she was under FBI surveillance. Others, the danger was more tangible, such as the time she went to buy weed in East LA and ended up with a dealer pointing a gun at her head. “Yeah, that was crazy. Don’t mess with East LA. Thank the Lord, I’m here.”
Was it a case of “child star hits the skids”?
“Definitely. What happens when you’re a child professional is that you have to be, well, professional. You’re taught not to have tantrums, to always people-please. That’s part of how I got into [drugs] later.”
Has she met the other casualties: Britney Spears, Drew Barrymore? “I’ve met Drew, she’s a sweetheart. I just saw Britney the other day at the Teen Choice Awards.” Is there a mutual understanding? “Sure. There are definitely things in common. It’s making that change from being a [child performer], expected to do everything right, to adulthood, when you’re going to have your rebellion phase.” She laughs, hollowly. But it gets worse, as it’s pushed back a few years? “Yeah, it does,” she sighs.
Her life fell apart. She smoked away her savings, lost her mind (talking to hampers, etc) and ended up living at her parents’ house. There is some speculation that Fergie is older than she lets on (seems unlikely; she grew up on TV), as her unquestionably sexy features can look a touch — how can I put this? — ravaged. But she beat it. “I don’t hang out in circles where everyone is smoking crystal meth out of a pipe. That wouldn’t be smart. You have to make good decisions. I always say I’m retired.”
And you got over the gang fascination too?
“Oh yeah. It was very alluring, very romantic. Well, I romanticised it. I thought it was artistic.” And the men? “I still think gangsters are cute,” she says, coyly. Odd, then, that earlier this year you married Josh Duhamel, star of Transformers and possibly the cleanest-cut man on the planet. “I know, isn’t it crazy?” she laughs. “But a lot of what comes with the [Cholo] lifestyle is not what I wanted for my future. So I started becoming attracted to qualities that didn’t involve guns and drugs and gangs. I changed my behaviour through therapy and started becoming attracted to things like integrity and loyalty. Who would be a good father? Who would be a good husband?”
Duhamel — a man so offensively healthy he could be the poster boy for broccoli — met Fergie when she appeared as herself on Las Vegas, the NBC drama he starred in, in 2004. The pair married last January in a ceremony so private that guests weren’t informed of its Malibu location until the morning of the wedding.
“It just turned into a rock concert,” she says gleefully, though she has maintained the same rigid privacy since. For all their success, the Black Eyed Peas are somewhat anonymous as personalities — and Fergie likes it this way.
Yet their success is unrivalled. In 2003, she was approached by the Peas (headed by super producer Will.i.am) who were looking for a female vocalist for their third album, Elephunk. She soon graduated to full-time member, reinvented herself as Fergie and, in their first year together, scored Britain’s biggest-selling single with Where is the Love? Will.i.am dubbed her “the body” of the group (how very politically correct) and it’s been hit after hit ever since.
Then her solo album, 2006’s The Dutchess (a quirkily spelt nod to her flame-haired namesake) spawned three Top 10 hits in the UK alone. She continued to shock with confessions of past lesbian affairs, and became so excited while on stage in San Diego in 2005 that her pelvic floor failed her during a performance of Let’s Get it Started and… well, you can guess the rest.
Marriage, she believes, has calmed her. So while she maintains she’s “a very sexual person”, these days the carnal-predator shtick is just for show. Drugs, gangsters, guns and girls are in the past — though she’s resigned to the fact that she’ll forever be judged for it all. “I’m trying to get a thicker skin. I like to be aware of people’s perceptions of me, but when you put it as a priority, as a means to judging your worth, that’s when it can be dangerous.” At this, her heavily kohled eyes drift to some distant Rocky, giving her the look of the wisest pole dancer who ever lived. She gives a sigh. “There’s no rule book on how to do this.” No, there isn’t. Though I’d bet good money Fergie could write a good one.
The Black Eyed Peas new single, Meet Me Halfway, is released in the UK on November 2
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Actress Kate Beckinsale has been named 2009's 'Sexiest Woman Alive' by Esquire Magazine and who could argue ? The sexy British star of such movies as Underworld, Van Helsing, Pearl Harbor and Vacancy seems to look better and better in every movie and television appearance.
She's in great company as past designees of Esquire's 'Sexiest Woman' have been Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, Jessica Biel and Scarlett Johansson.
For More Pics And Kate's Interview With Esquire Go Here
Chalie Boy touches down with help some of the dirty south's finest for this remix of his hit record "I Look Good". Bun-B, Slum Thugga & Juvenile light fire to this track. This shit got the clubs jumpin so make sure you download it and spread the word my G'z
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Tracklist:
01. Intro
02. Dope Boys
03. Frowney Face
04. Watch Cost A Bently feat Bun B & Rocko
05. Think I Want Her
06. “Yelp” I Got All Of That
07. Trap Goin Crazy
08. Gucci Speaks
09. My Shadow
10. Gucci Speaks
11. Real As They Get feat OJ Da Juiceman & Wacka Flocka Flame
12. Excuse Me
13. More feat Kandi & Sean ceasar
14. Gucci Speaks
15. Candy Lady
16. Candy Lady Remix feat Brick Squad
17. No No No
18. Foreign feat Shawty Red
19. Flexin feat Brick Squad
20. My Chain feat Brick Squad
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Tracklist:
01. Jumpin’ Out The Window Freestyle
02. Rakim Freestyle
03. Toca Tuesdays Freestyle
04. A Milli Freestyle
05. Don’t Get Scared Freestyle
06. I Get Money Freestyle (Feat. Styles P)
07. Mornings Was Hash Browns Freestyle
08. This The Shit I Need Freestyle
09. The People Freestyle (Feat. Styles P)
10. Pop Champagne Freestyle
11. Freestyle
12. Speaks On The Rap Game And His Top MC’s
13. 40 Bars Of Terror Freestyle
14. The Playoffs Freestyle
15. U Ain’t A Killa Freestyle
16. 4 Da Fam Freestyle
17. Long Kiss Goodnight Freestyle
18. Check Mate Freestyle (50 Cent Diss)
19. Fiesta Freestyle (Feat. Styles P)(Jay-Z Diss)
20. Fuck Beanie Sigel Freestyle (Beanie Sigel Diss)
21. Special Delivery (Feat. Sheek Louch And Styles P)(Beanie Sigel And Jay-Z Diss)
22. A6 Freestyle
23. Hot 97 Funk Master Flex Freestyle
24. Bring It On Freestyle
25. Feel It In The Air Freestyle (Feat. Sheek Louch And Styles P)
26. Summer’s Over Freestyle
27. Grindin’ Freestyle (Feat. Sheek Louch)
28. Lay Low Freestyle
29. Welcome To The ROC Freestyle
30. Scenerio Freestyle
31. We Are The Streets Freestyle
32. Bonus Freestyle #1
33. Bonus Freestyle #2Download HereRead more…
Tracklist:
01. DJ Trigga - Gucci Vs. Jeezy Intro
02. Gucci Mane - How Deez Hoes Be
03. Young Jeezy - Speaks On TM 103
04. Young Jeezy - 24 23 (Gucci Mane And OJ Da Juiceman Diss)
05. Gucci Mane - Speaks On Young Jeezy Diss Record
06. Gucci Mane - I Got All Of That
07. Young Jeezy - Better Believe It (Feat. Lil’ Boosie And Webbie)
08. Gucci Mane - Do It Do It (Feat. OJ Da Juiceman)
09. Young Jeezy - Bang Bang
10. Gucci Mane - 5 Star Bitch (Feat. Trina And Lil’ Boosie)
11. Young Jeezy - Speaks On Gucci Mane Diss Record
12. Young Jeezy - Sunny Days
13. Gucci Manr - Atlanta, GA (Feat. The Dream, Shawty Lo, And Ludacris)
14. Young Jeezy - Trap Files
15. Gucci Mane - Girls
16. Young Jeezy - Turn My Scale On
17. Gucci Mane - Wasted (Feat. Twista And OJ Da Juiceman)
18. Young Jeezy - That Ain’t It
19. Gucci Mane - I’m On One (Feat. Rich Boy)
20. Young Jeezy - Dead Or Alive
21. Gucci Mane - Walkin’ On Ice (Feat. Twista And OJ Da Juiceman)
22. Young Jeezy - I’m Goin’ In (Remix)(Feat. Lil’ Wayne And Drake)Download HereRead more…
Video After The Jump
Apparently Miley Cyrus has decided to leave Twitter, leaving all of her 2 million followers heartbroken. So she decided to make a video explaining why the decision was made. The video is below, but be forewarned this gives Fat Joe's "Noise Poisoning" a run for it's money !
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EW.com Reports
Funny man Marlon Wayans is in advanced discussions to play one of comedy’s most iconic figures in the biopic Richard Pryor: Is it Something I Said for Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Prods. and Sony Pictures. The project has been written and will be directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls). Eddie Murphy was originally attached to star in the project, but he dropped out over conflicts with Paramount Pictures, which was previously on board to finance the film.
While Wayans is primarily known for his comedic roles in Wayans Bros.’ movies such as Dance Flick and White Chicks, he received critical acclaim for his dramatic turn in 1999’s Requiem for a Dream. Sources tell EW.com that Wayans fought for the role, blowing the producers away with a 13- min screen test where he “transforms into Pryor.” The movie depicts Pryor’s controversial brand of comedy and his battle with drugs and is currently budgeted at $20 million. Chris Rock, Pryor’s widow Jennifer Lee Pryor and Mark Gordon are also lined up to produce. Producers are still working out the terms of Wayans’ deal, and other major aspects of the overall project have not been finalized. Sony did not respond to requests for comment.
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If Rush Limbaugh buys the Rams, the NFL's black players say they won't meet him in St. LouisNY Daily News Reports
Mathias Kiwanuka loves his former defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, but the Giants' defensive end says he will never play for Spagnuolo's Rams if Rush Limbaugh purchases the team.
Kiwanuka and the Jets' Bart Scott made it clear Thursday that they would never play for the Rams or any team owned by the controversial conservative radio host.
"All I know is from the last comment I heard, he said in (President) Obama's America, white kids are getting beat up on the bus while black kids are chanting 'right on,'" Kiwanuka told The Daily News. "I mean, I don't want anything to do with a team that he has any part of. He can do whatever he wants, it is a free country. But if it goes through, I can tell you where I am not going to play."
"I am not going to draw a conclusion from a person off of one comment, but when it is time after time after time and there's a consistent pattern of disrespect and just a complete misunderstanding of an entire culture that I am a part of, I can't respect him as a man."
Limbaugh said on Tuesday that he is joining former Knicks president and Madison Square Garden CEO Dave Checketts in a group bidding to purchase the Rams. Checketts, who owns the NHL's St. Louis Blues, is heading the group, reportedly one of many bidders. The potential sale is still in an early stage. If the Rams are sold, St. Louis will choose one bidding group, which will then be subject to a vote by the NFL's 32 owners, with approval needed by 24 of them.
Limbaugh's controversial comments are well-known. He resigned from ESPN in 2003 after he said the media were "very desirous that a black quarterback do well" in reference to Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb being overrated. "If he's rewarded to buy them, congratulations to him," McNabb said during his weekly press conference. "But I won't be in St. Louis anytime soon."
Scott says players remember what Limbaugh said, and adds that the NFL would be wise not to allow the nationally syndicated host into the league. "It's an oxymoron that he criticized Donovan McNabb," Scott said. "A lot of us took it as more of a racial-type thing. I can only imagine how his players would feel. I know I wouldn't want to play for him. He's a jerk. He's an ---. What he said (about McNabb) was inappropriate and insensitive, totally off-base. He could offer me whatever he wanted, I wouldn't play for him. ... I wouldn't play for Rush Limbaugh. My principles are greater and I can't be bought."
Limbaugh, who grew up in Missouri about 100 miles south of St. Louis, is an avid sports fan who once said that "the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons."
Kiwanuka cringes at the idea of Limbaugh becoming an NFL owner. "They are flat-out racist," Kiwanuka said of many of Limbaugh's statements. "He jumps on Obama and he jumps on other people for being racist. But a lot of the comments that he said, I feel like they have no place in journalism. It is just an opinion show that should be only be taken for shock value. I liken it to 'South Park' when I am listening to him."
"I love Spags and would play for him in a heartbeat, but under that situation ... obviously trades you have no control over, but if it was a free-agent thing, I wouldn't care if I only had one offer on the table, I would rather stay a free agent."
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Robin Thicke jumps back in the scene in a major way with this Polow Da Don produced gem. This is baby making music no doubt. Polow continues to show why he is one of the most sought after producers in the game, able to switch from hip hop to smooth r & b without missing a beat.
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Video After The JumpMyFoxDetroit Reports
You see many buses on the streets of Detroit everyday. However, one stands out not only because of its bold, pink color, but also because of the personality of its CEO whose determination is the driver.
The brains behind this bus is ten-year-old Amiya Alexander. She created the business that has become Amiya's Mobile Dance Academy. It was an idea that came to her in the middle of the night. At first, her mother wasn't exactly thrilled.
"I sketched it out on a little piece of paper and I came to her and she (said,) "why"... I (said,) "Mom, I have a plan," said Amiya Alexander.
Alexander's vision was nothing short of incredible. It was to get a bus, paint it pink, take the seats out, decorate it, hire instructors and turn it into a dance studio on wheels.
"She said my classes are going to be reasonable. They're not going to be expensive, because I have to help those children who can't afford these expensive dance classes," said Tebereh Alexander.
So, while bringing the bus to teach kids as young as two the finer points of ballet, tap and hip hop, Alexander also carefully considered the legal side of the business while presenting her grand plan to mom.
"It listed everything she needed... She had her insurance on there. She needed an attorney. She needed marketing and business cards and flyers. So, it listed everything," Tebereh Alexander said.
When you see the big pink bus cruising the streets, no doubt you would think it was a major enterprise, but it's Alexander running the company. She is also just as serious about her school work as she is about her footwork. "Her passion is dance, but I also instill in her that education is first. That's her priority," said Tebereh Alexander.
Alexander is an excellent student and has even higher aspirations for her life that not only include dancing, but a career in medicine.
"I love anatomy. It's my favorite subject at school," said Amiya Alexander. So much so that she has ultimately set her sites on Havard Medical School. Even now, at her young age, she soaks in everything she can from her mentors at Sinai-Grace Hospital.
"I really want to be an obstrycian and a dancer... I'd like to be a doctor because I really like learning about systems and how the body works... It's very interesting to me being with children. So, people are saying I should be a peditrician, but... I kind of like babies a little more. So, I thought I could deliver the babies," Amiya Alexander said.
Until then, Alexander is just happy surrounding herself with children whom she can teach and share her love of dance. It's kind of hard to remember she's still just a little girl.
"I see her being mature for her age and I want her to know I don't want her to grow up too fast," said Tebereh Alexander.
For this inspiring little ten-year-old, it's not so much the destination as it is the journey. "She's my little inspiration and she's my little heart," Tebereh Alexander said.
If you would like more information on Amaya's Mobile Dance Academy, visit www.amiyasdancebus.com .
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Rolling Stone Reports
DJ Hero has announced its massive 93-song in-game track list — which boasts Beastie Boys blended with Foo Fighters and 50 Cent vs. David Bowie — and now Rolling Stone can exclusively reveal the track lists for Eminem and Jay-Z’s Renegade compilations that will accompany the DJ Hero Renegade Edition of the game (the Renegade comps aren’t playable tracks, but best-of CDs).
Jay-Z’s Renegade collection is the first best-of comp of Jigga’s career — though there’s reportedly talk of another coming in November — so Jay-Z sticks to the hits. Eminem, however, opts for deeper cuts and rarities from his arsenal, including a brand new song called “Taking My Ball” that will feature exclusively on the DJ Hero Renegade disc. Both rappers hand-selected their respective track lists.
“The tracks we put on this disc are mostly overlooked or rarer favorites of mine from all different parts of my career,” Eminem said. “I also put a brand new, unheard song on there so even the biggest fan has something new.” DJ Hero and DJ Hero Renegade Edition will both be released October 27th, but Slim Shady fans can hear “Taking My Ball” October 16th when the track debuts on Em’s Sirius radio station Shade45. In addition to the game itself and the dual hits compilations, DJ Hero Renegade will feature a premium Renegade turntable controller and a hardshell turntable carrying case that converts into a DJ stand.
The Renegade cover art was created by artist Shepard Fairey, who also produced the famous Obama Hope poster as well as the recent Obama cover of Rolling Stone.
DJ Hero Renegade: Jay-Z
“Ain’t No Nigga (featuring Foxy Brown)”
“Where I’m From”
“Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”
“Jigga My Nigga (featuring Ruff Ryders)”
“I Just Wanna Love U (Give it 2 Me)”
“Izzo (H.O.V.A.)”
“03′ Bonnie & Clyde (featuring Beyoncé Knowles)”
“Dirt Off Your Shoulder”
“Show Me What You Got”
“Roc Boys (And the Winner Is…)”
“Brooklyn Go Hard (Featuring Santigold)”
“D.O.A. (Death of Auto Tune)”
DJ Hero Renegade: Eminem
“Taking My Ball”
“Say Goodbye to Hollywood”
“Soldier”
“The Re-Up (featuring 50 Cent)”
“Rabbit Run”
“Get U Mad”
“Bad Guys Always Die (featuring Dr. Dre)”
“Public Enemy No. 1″
“Say What You Say (featuring Dr. Dre)”
“Lose Yourself”
“Hey Lady (featuring Obie Trice)”
“One Shot 2 Shot (featuring D-12)”
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Junior Gotti (l.) got in a screaming match with John Alite in the courtroom on ThursdayNY Daily News Reports
And on the seventh day, he lost it.
An enraged John A. (Junior) Gotti exploded Thursday, fed up after a week's worth of damning testimony from his ex-best friend - reportedly threatening to murder the mob informant in a Manhattan courtroom.
"I'll kill you," Gotti mouthed at John Alite just before the once inseparable duo shared a high-decibel Mafia meltdown in front of a stunned audience.
Jurors didn't see Gotti send that silent message to Alite, and they were ushered out of the courtroom before the real fireworks minutes later.
As Alite stepped down from the witness stand, he slowed and snarled at Gotti.
"You got something to say to me?" the star government witness barked, later telling the judge about the threat.
"You fag!" Gotti shouted back. "Did I kill little girls? You're a punk. You're a dog. You're a dog. You always were a dog your whole life, you punk dog."
The ugly encounter in federal court came after Alite blamed one of Gotti's uncles for a murder in the early 1990s.
The testimony enraged Gotti, who shouted at Alite while court officers intervened.
"You want to strangle little girls in a motel?" Gotti screamed as Alite was led away. "You dog!"
Alite had just testified that Vincent Gotti had strangled a young woman in a drug-fueled fight and left her body in a Queens motel bathtub.
Defense lawyer Charles Carnesi suggested Alite was the real killer.
"Ridiculous," said Alite, laughing. "His uncle, yes, strangled somebody and killed her. ... I wasn't there."
Alite confirmed that Junior was later blamed for the slaying, infuriating the Gambino boss.
Gotti, 45, facing his fourth racketeering trial, apologized for mouthing off, but federal Judge Kevin Castel was not moved by the mea culpa and said another outburst would land him in contempt.
"You are not doing yourself any favors, and you violated my direction," said Castel, who had warned Gotti during jury selection to keep his mouth shut.
Castel said he did not see Gotti mouth the threat at Alite, but accepted Prosecutor Elie Honig's claim that a U.S. Marshal saw Gotti do it.
"He lipped to me, 'We're gonna kill you,'" Alite told the judge. "So I said, 'What?' And he said, 'We're gonna kill you.'"
Gotti's mother, Victoria, said Alite went after her son because Carnesi was getting too close to the truth. Carnesi had forced Alite to recount hundreds of lies he had made - to the government, lawyers, family and friends - as he tried to worm his way out of a life sentence.
"Alite is a pathological liar - a rat caught in a proverbial trap, caught in his own lies, and he lashed out," she said.
The ex-friends ignored one another when they returned to court later in the day.
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NY Daily News Reports
Cops investigating the murder of a Bronx man are looking back at a 2007 assault case in which he took the rap for one of 50 Cent's sidekicks.
Lowell Fletcher, 32, was killed on Jerome Ave. Sept. 27, just two weeks after making parole, and cops are looking to the rap world for a possible motive.
Fletcher, who used the rap name Lodi Mack, was employed by G-Unit rapper Tony Yayo, who was busted two years ago for smacking the 14-year-old son of rival music producer Jimmy (Henchman) Rosemond of Czar Entertainment.
Lil Henchman
The boy was wearing a T-shirt with the name of his father's company, which reps rapper The Game - a rival to Yayo and his famous patron, 50 Cent.
Police said Fletcher, who was a lieutenant in the Bloods as well as a member of Yayo's posse, flashed a handgun at the teen and Yayo backhanded him in the face.
Jimmy Henchman
Later, after his drug arrest, Fletcher told police that he - not Yayo - had hit the boy, and assault charges against Yayo were dropped.
Fletcher pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and served nine months concurrently with a 2 1/2-year sentence for drug possession.
"He pled guilty for another guy, for Yayo," said a police source.
"And the kid's father is a pretty big guy in the music industry. So the case might be connected to him, or to 50 Cent and his boys, to get the heat off of them."
Another source said there were more theories than facts: "On Jerome Ave., it could be lots of reasons - or no reason."
In April 2008, the mother of Rosemond's son filed a multimillion-dollar civil suit against Fletcher, Yayo, 50 Cent, G-Unit Records and Interscope Records. It charges her son was attacked to promote a violent "gangsta image."
Yayo's lawyer, Scott Leemon, said complaints against the companies and 50 Cent - who wasn't even there - were thrown out, leaving Fletcher and Yayo as the sole defendants in the ongoing civil case.
"Based on Fletcher's death, I have no idea what is going to happen now," Leemon said.
Fletcher was shot around 9:30 p.m. at Jerome Ave. and Goble Place, a quiet block surrounded by shuttered auto-body shops. Investigators believe several men ambushed him that Sunday night.
A day after the shooting, Yayo twittered: "R.I.P TO LODI MACK. GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN."
He later deleted the message.
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