Rap-Up Reports
Michael Jackson’s music continues to give well into the holiday season. Universal Motown will present the ultimate stocking stuffer when it issues a new Jackson 5 Christmas collection on October 13.
The Jackson 5 Ultimate Christmas Collection features the original, best-selling Jackson 5 Christmas Album from 1970, plus 10 bonus tracks. The added material includes acappella and “stripped” mixes of songs from the original LP and spoken-word “Season’s Greetings” from the King of Pop and his brothers. Rap-Up.com has obtained the tracklisting, below.
TRACKS
1. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
2. “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
3. “The Christmas Song”
4. “Up on the House Top”
5. “Frosty the Snowman”
6. “Little Drummer Boy”
7. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
8. “Christmas Won’t Be the Same This Year”
9. “Give Love on Christmas Day”
10. “Someday at Christmas”
11. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”
BONUS TRACKS
1. “Season’s Greetings from Michael Jackson”
2. “Little Christmas Tree” (Michael Jackson)
3. “Season’s Greetings from Tito Jackson”
4. “Up on the House Top” (DJ Re-Edit)
5. “Season’s Greetings from Jackie Jackson”
6. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (Stripped Mix)
7. “Season’s Greetings from Jermaine Jackson”
8. “Someday at Christmas” (Stripped Mix)
9. “Give Love on Christmas Day” (Group Acappella Version)
10. “J5 Christmas Medley”
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NY Daily News Reports
A Floridian biology teacher fired after posing for racy pictures has landed a new career – in pornography.
Tiffany Shepherd, 31, made headlines in April after bikini-clad pictures of her on a fishing charter got her canned from Port St. Lucie High School. She turned to doing porn, she told a Florida news outlet, after losing custody of two of her three kids to her ex-husband and sending out 2,500 resumes – some even to prisons – without landing a new teaching job.
"I'm not particularly proud of it. To be honest, I hate it," Shepherd told Page2live.com. "I'm an educated woman, but I never thought it would come to this. No one gets brought up thinking they'll be a floozy."
On screen, Shepherd goes by the name Leah Lust and has filmed five feature films, including one titled ‘My first sex teacher,' where Shepherd portrays the very job she's been trying to get back.
"It's very professional," says Shepherd on the Web site. "Everyone's tested -- for venereal diseases and AIDS -- and I'm carrying around my little piece of paper that says I'm fine. They love me because I take care of myself and I don't run out to party with my money."
Shepherd got into the business after the captain of the fishing charter that got her into trouble in the first place recommended it as a way to make good money. Captain Gil Coombes, of the boat ‘Smokin ‘Em,' owns a porn Web cam studio with his wife, Kat, called KLC productions.
"We sat down with her and told her she'd never get a teaching job again," Coombes told Page2live.com. "So I told her, use ‘em before they fall to the ground. But God, does she need to work on her acting!"
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HipHopWired Reports
While fans are reveling in unauthorized leaks of the most anticipated album of the year, Jay-Z is enlisting the help of MTV and Rhapsody to leak the entire Blueprint III himself. The album in its entirety will be available online for free listening starting Tuesday, September 1. MTV's first-rate streaming site, The Leak, and the premiere music entertainment site, Rhapsody, will both have the complete album available for listening online free of charge.
Additionally, Rhapsody is taking things one step further, making the album available for purchase three days before its September 11 release. Rhaphsody.com will have exclusive rights to a deluxe version of the album September 8 complete with two bonus tracks not featured on the in-store version. Adding more fuel to the promotional fire surrounding the project, the media companies are also showing extensive advertisements featuring Jay. Rhapsody will show three advertisements for the album online and will distribute one of them to MTV for their 2009 Video Music Awards on September 13.
In the meantime, Hov appeared at a press conference today (August 31) about his upcoming benefit concert. He was joined by his wife, Beyonce, New York Governor David Paterson, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and Hip-Hop executive, Kevin Liles. Jay revealed that he would have as many as 10 special guest appearances at the concert but refused to provide details saying, “I don't wanna give too much away...”
He also talked about the sense of pride he felt seeing his fellow New Yorkers respond to the 9/11 terrorist attacks saying, “I saw footage of these heroic actions...people running into buildings and saving each other, and I just saw the strength of New York and it made me proud.”
The “Answer the Call” concert will benefit the New York Police & Fired Widows' and Children Benefit Fund. It will take place September 11, the same day The Blueprint III is released, at Madison Square Garden. Fuse TV will have live coverage of the concert for people unable to attend. Tickets are $50 and go on sale September 8. For people with Citi cards, they can purchase tickets at 8 a.m. that day, hours before the tickets go on sale. The general public will be allowed to buy tickets at noon.
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Rap-Up Reports
Ciara mixed it up with Kim Kardashian at Millions of Milkshakes on Saturday (Aug. 29). The BFFs blended their own tasty concoctions at the West Hollywood sweet spot. Kim has a milkshake named after her, which is made out of Snickers topped with whipped cream and a Cadbury Flake.
Rap-Up Reports
After Chris Brown penned a song for Soulja Boy Tell’em’s latest album, the “Turn My Swag On” rapper is returning the favor. The under 21 stars have collaborated on a new “smash” for Brown’s third album Graffiti.
Chris Breezy and Soulja Boy originally recorded “Yamaha Mama” for the latter’s sophomore effort iSouljaBoyTellem. Brown was replaced by Sean Kingston on the album version. “[Chris Brown] wrote that song,” Soulja Boy tells Rap-Up.com. “He was on the hook originally, but he came back and told me that he didn’t like the song, so we put Sean Kingston on the record.”
Not to worry though. The two already have another collaboration in the bag. “I’m already on his album. I did a record with him when I was in L.A., probably a month ago,” Soulja Boy reveals. “He called me up and was like, ‘Man, I want you to get on this song.’ So we worked together and we did a song that I think a lot of people gon’ like. It’s a smash record. When he put it out, it gon’ get a good response.”
Don’t be surprised to also see the “Run It!” singer on Soulja Boy’s new album The DeAndre Way. “If I want him to be on the album, he gon’ be on the album. It just depends on the right type of song. If the record makes sense and I want him to be on there, he gon’ be on there.”
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AllHipHop Reports
Although 50 Cent was unable to get clearance for his Family Day in Queen’s 40 Projects, the G Unit mogul achieved another goal in hosting a benefit concert on Saturday (August 29) for the schoolchildren of New York’s PS-30.
The show took place in front of the invite-only crowd at New Jersey’s Six Flags.
In between songs, 50 explained the importance of reaching out to kids from his native South Jamaica, Queens neighborhood.
“I want to thank everyone for getting on the buses and coming out,” 50 stated. “I was trying to do something good. When I was small Great Adventures (Six Flags) was a big thing to me. So I wanted to make sure I brought kids so they could have that same experience.”
Despite the festive mood, the mogul was still bothered by how the City of New York blocked his attempt to have a family day in his neighborhood over fears of violence.
“When I tried to do it in the hood like everyone else would do it, everyone is like '50 Cent don’t come through the hood.' But all of them don’t get a chance to see me when I come through.,” 50 stated. “And they be like 'we don’t see 50.' You don’t see me because I’m usually somewhere where I’m not trying to be seen. Everybody look right there…that’s the motherf**king police. Them motherf**kers follow me everywhere I go. Y’know why? Because I’m from Southside! While everybody looking f**k the police!”
The show went off without any violent incidents and 50 Cent plans to make the benefit an annual event.
At press time, the Queens emcee is hopeful his much-delayed fourth LP Before I Self-Destruct will meet its new tentative release date of November 3.
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Daily Mail Reports
Seemingly on a mission to upstage her rapper boyfriend Kanye West, Amber Rose made sure it was all eyes on her by wearing freakish-looking blue contact lenses to a Las Vegas beach club.
The former stripper, who was recently pictured frolicking with Kanye in an iridescent orange thong bikini on a Barcelona beach, was hosting an event at popular Vegas club Tao Beach when she stunned everyone with her new look.
Bisexual Amber turned up wearing a rather demure black knee length skirt and white tank top. But in typical style, the 26-year-old eventually stripped down to a skimpy bikini to show off her now famous curves
In her skimpy bikini she showed off her various tattoos, including a garland of roses on her right arm and a fairy on her ankle.
Amber seems intent on carving out a career and becoming a star independent of her famous boyfriend.
A few months ago she was signed by top model agency Ford Models and has started hosting events on her own.
She and Kanye started dating in February after originally meeting last year when he was engaged to designer Alexis Phifer.
The 32-year-old wanted Amber to star in his Robocop video, but the couple insisted their relationship was purely professional at this stage.
'Well, my intentions when I met Kanye were to keep it very professional and we really started to like each other,' Amber recently revealed.
'He wanted me for his Robocop video and he had the utmost respect for me.
'I was always a huge fan of his but he had a fiancee, it wasn't like, 'Ah, I'm gonna get with Kanye.
'Kanye knew my life, so when it was, 'Oh, Kanye do you know she was a stripper, and that she used to date girls?' he was like, 'Tell me something I don't know.'
Last night DJ Unk suffered a heart attack apparently from partying to hard. Luckily Dr's were able to save him and he's on the road to recovery. Unk tweeted that he's going to start living a healthier lifestyle without the weed and drinks.
People try to trash 50 but this proves that he does so much more for the community than people realize. A lot of those kids might never get to go to Great Adventures ever again. He gave those kids a gift they will always remember
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NY Daily News Reports
Roxanne's revenge was sweet indeed.
Twenty-five years after the first queen of hip-hop was stiffed on her royalty checks, Dr. Roxanne Shante boasts an Ivy League Ph.D. - financed by a forgotten clause in her first record deal.
"This is a story that needs to be told," Shante said. "I'm an example that you can be a teenage mom, come from the projects, and be raised by a single parent, and you can still come out of it a doctor."
Her prognosis wasn't as bright in the years after the '80s icon scored a smash hit at age 14: "Roxanne's Revenge," a razor-tongued response to rap group UTFO's mega-hit "Roxanne, Roxanne."
The 1984 single sold 250,000 copies in New York City alone, making Shante (born Lolita Gooden) hip hop's first female celebrity.
She blazed a trail followed by Lil' Kim, Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah - although Shante didn't share their success.
After two albums, Shante said, she was disillusioned by the sleazy music industry and swindled by her record company. The teen mother, living in the Queensbridge Houses, recalled how her life was shattered.
"Everybody was cheating with the contracts, stealing and telling lies," she said. "And to find out that I was just a commodity was heartbreaking."
But Shante, then 19, remembered a clause in her Warner Music recording contract: The company would fund her education for life.
She eventually cashed in, earning a Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell to the tune of $217,000 - all covered by the label. But getting Warner Music to cough up the dough was a battle.
"They kept stumbling over their words, and they didn't have an exact reason why they were telling me no," Shante said.
She figured Warner considered the clause a throwaway, never believing a teen mom in public housing would attend college. The company declined to comment for this story.
Shante found an arm-twisting ally in Marguerita Grecco, the dean at Marymount Manhattan College. Shante showed her the contract, and the dean let her attend classes for free while pursuing the money.
"I told Dean Grecco that either I'm going to go here or go to the streets, so I need your help," Shante recalls. "She said, 'We're going to make them pay for this.'"
Grecco submitted and resubmitted the bills to the label, which finally agreed to honor the contract when Shante threatened to go public with the story.
Shante earned her doctorate in 2001, and launched an unconventional therapy practice focusing on urban African-Americans - a group traditionally reluctant to seek mental health help.
"People put such a taboo on therapy, they feel it means they're going crazy," she explained. "No, it doesn't. It just means you need someone else to talk to."
Shante often incorporates hip-hop music into her sessions, encouraging her clients to unleash their inner MC and shout out exactly what's on their mind.
"They can't really let loose and enjoy life," she said. "So I just let them unlock those doors."
Shante, 38, is also active in the community. She offers $5,000 college scholarships each semester to female rappers through the nonprofit Hip Hop Association.
She also dispenses advice to young women in the music business via a MySpace page.
"I call it a warning service, so their dreams don't turn into nightmares," she said.
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons said Shante is a shining role model for the rap community. "Dr. Shante's life is inspiring," Simmons said. "She was a go-getter who rose from the struggle and went from hustling to teaching. She is a prime example that you can do anything, and everything is possible."
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