Gucci Mane has at least one huge celebrity fan who is supporting his latest project.
Back as far as June of 2010 Miley Cyrus said the Atlanta rapper is one of her favorites along with OJ Da Juiceman,
"I like Gucci Mane and OJ Da Juiceman," she told MTV's Sway at the time. “I love it. I don’t know any of the songs. They all blend in. I can’t really break it up, but I like it."
The singer's appreciation for Mr. La Flare has only grown since then, because she told her 2 million twitter followers to go cop his new cd with Waka Flocka, 'Ferrari Boyz' yesterday.
You gotta love that kind of free publicity if you're Gucci.
As Kim Kardhashian's August 20 wedding date to NBA player Kris Humphries fast approaches it seems as though someone is having second thoughts, and they're not even invited to the wedding.
According to Life & Style Weekly, Kim's former boyfriend of nearly three years Reggie Bush, is begging the reality tv star to call off her wedding to Humphries and give him another chance.
"He's been sending text messages to Kim and leaving her voice mails, telling her she's making a mistake and that he's the one for her," an insider says of the Miami Dolphins running back. "In the past, Kim was friendly to Reggie but now she's stopped responding."
Bush reportedly uses a secret nickname when he sends texts to Kim.
"She used to love that nickname, but now that he's using it when she's about to get married to someone else, it's just annoying to her," the insider adds. "She was burned by the end of their relationship, and she's truly moved on."
Bush and Kardashian dated on and off from July 2007 until March 2010.
If you got up this morning hoping to grab tickets for the first of Beyonce's four concerts in NYC, chances are you were left disappointed. All 3200 seats for her August 14 show at the Roseland Ballroom were snapped up in just 22 seconds.
Luckily B has three more shows planned for August 16, 18 and 19. Tickets are expected to go fast for those shows as well.
Beyonce will be performing her new album '4' in it's entirety at these special New York concerts.
Steve Harvey has taken off the gloves and is going right at the throats of Cornel West and Tavis Smiley for their criticism of President Obama.
Smiley, a longtime television broadcaster and West, a Princeton professor, host the Smiley & West show on Public Radio International. The two announced plans to hold a Poverty Bus Tour.
According to The Root, the "Poverty Tour: A Call to Conscience" will travel to soup kitchens, Indian reservations and low-income communities. West and Smiley will stay overnight at the homes of families struggling in today's economy.
A big topic of debate is sure to be frequent target Obama.
West told BET that a big reason for the tour is what he sees as Obama's commitment to bankers more than poor people.
"I think that every citizen in a democracy has a moral obligation to be concerned about the weak and vulnerable and the president of the United States is a citizen," West said. "When he says he has the exact same responsibility to every member of society, I just say it’s not true, he’s lying. It’s clear that he has more commitment to investment banks than he does to poor people. It’s just clear because when they got in trouble he gave them $700 billion; he subsidized them. They have not made poor people a priority. That’s why we’re going on the tour."
Rev. Al Sharpton, Tom Joyner, and now Harvey are firing back at West and Smiley.
Harvey addressed the situation on his radio show a couple of days ago.
"I was a huge fan of Cornel West," said Harvey. "Tavis, I seen him coming a mile away. His anger started when he had a town hall meeting, President Obama couldn't come because of the campaign trail and he sent Mrs. Obama. He has held that grudge every since. You don't have any real basis behind your dislike for this man...you keep masking it saying it's not about hate. Then what is it about? Poverty existed before January 20, 2008. Where was your damn bus then?"
Harvey then clowned West and Smiley in a skit titled UTLO.org - "Uncle Tom Look Out" where an Uncle Tom is driving the bus.
J. Cole continues to grind on the concert circuit as he gears up for the release of his debut album 'Cole World: The Sideline Story,' which drops September 27.
Last night the Roc Nation artist hit up the Bowery Ballroom in NYC for the Heineken Red Star Access event, to perform his new single "Work Out."
As we previously reported, Kelly Rowland suffered one of those dreaded wardrobe malfunctions over the weekend, exposing both of her breasts to the world.
TMZ caught up with the former Destiny's Child singer, who said she was very embarrassed by the whole incident. The singer did admit to loving a "nice pair of underwear" though.
London (CNN) -- Heavy policing has brought calm to London after several days of rioting and looting, but trouble has continued to spread to other cities around the country.
Where did the rioting begin? In Tottenham, north London, an ethnically diverse area where locals had been protesting Saturday about the death of 29-year-old Mark Duggan, a black man who was shot in a police operation on Thursday.
Mark Duggan
Where has the rioting taken place?
In several areas of London and other major British cities, such as Birmingham and Gloucester in central England, Manchester, Salford, Liverpool and Nottingham further north and Bristol in the southwest.
After the initial outbreak in Tottenham overnight on Saturday, violence also spread on Sunday the north London suburb of Enfield, Brixton in the south and Oxford street in central London, the capital's main shopping district.
On Monday afternoon large gangs roamed Peckham and Hackney in east London, looting shops, attacking buses and setting cars and shops alight.
Later on Monday trouble spread to the leafy London suburb of Croydon, where several buildings, mainly shops, were set on fire. In Enfield, a large Sony distribution center was torched.
On Monday evening rioting erupted in affluent Battersea in southwest London, where -- in what has now become a familiar pattern -- gangs of masked youths looted shops. Many other trouble flashpoints were reported across the city.
On the same night, there were reports of violence in Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol.
Tuesday night saw an uneasy calm restored in London after the police presence was more than doubled. But rioting continued in other major cities.
Why did the riots spread?
Police say the subsequent riots in other parts of London and the UK are copycat events conducted by opportunists and criminals.
What options do the police have to quell the unrest?
The police introduced special powers in four areas of London on Sunday -- Lambeth, Haringey, Enfield and Waltham Forest -- allowing stop and search without reasonable suspicion in a bid to keep rioters off the streets.
In theory, parliament could invoke powers to implement curfews, use water canons or even call in the armed forces.
However, senior politicians and police officers have said that these options are unlikely to be used unless the situation got significantly worse.
In 1981 police used CS gas for the first time to control civil unrest in mainland Britain during the Toxteth riots in Liverpool, northwest England.
Are there enough police officers?
A video report from Battersea in south London on Monday evening showed gangs of youths roaming the streets, smashing and looting shops with apparent impunity. The Sky News reporter who shot the scenes on his mobile phone said he could not see a single policeman. There were similar reports from other parts of London leading to claims that there were not enough police to keep the peace.
The deployment of 16,000 police officers on Tuesday night appeared to work, but if this needed to be sustained over a longer period, it could create problems.
Several hundred additional officers have been drafted into London from neighboring counties including Kent, Essex, Surrey, Northamptonshire, Sussex and Thames Valley Police, whose officers patrolled London's central shopping district on Monday evening.
The head of London's Metropolitan Police has called for all Specials -- volunteer police officers -- to report for duty, as the capital's law enforcement resources are stretched thin. It was also announced that all police leave has been cancelled.
How did Mark Duggan die?
Officers from Operation Trident -- the Metropolitan Police unit that deals with gun crime in London's black communities -- stopped the cab Duggan was travelling in during a pre-planned operation.
Duggan, a father of four, died of a single gunshot wound to the chest, an inquest at north London Coroner's Court heard on Tuesday.
There was a suggestion that officers could have come under fire from the car carrying Duggan.
However, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said Tuesday that there is no evidence Duggan opened fire at officers.
Why did the police want to arrest him?
Trident officers, backed up by a CO19 detachment -- the Metropolitan Police's specialist gun unit -- were conducting a "pre-planned" operation to arrest Duggan.
There have been conflicting reports about Duggan's background. Some have painted him as a suspected gang member, others as a loving family man unlikely to become involved in violence.
Police say he was carrying a loaded firearm at the time of his shooting.
Was social media a factor in spreading the violence?
London's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh said that smart phones and social networks like Twitter had been used by criminals to liaise. "It's a group of individuals using modern technology to cause chaos," he said.
Other reports say BlackBerry's messaging service was a popular means of communication to spread news about the violence.
Are there any parallels with previous riots in north London?
Only superficially, but some might argue that today, as in 1985 when riots erupted in Tottenham, there is a racial element to the troubles.
In 1985 Floyd Jarrett, who was of Afro-Caribbean origin, was stopped by police near the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham on suspicion of driving with a forged tax disc, a legal requirement for almost all cars in the UK.
A few hours later officers raided the nearby home of his mother, who collapsed and died during the raid. Like the recent troubles, it was a protest outside Tottenham Police Station which sparked the 1985 conflict.
Police officer Keith Blakelock was stabbed to death by a gang during the riots as he tried to protect fire crews.
Is there a connection with the riots in the UK last year?
No. They were student riots against tuition fee rises, although they were also marred by a certain amount of violence. But there was no looting and the protests were organized and publicized in advance. The protests were also mainly concentrated in London as students wanted to demonstrate against politicians.
What next?
The IPCC is conducting an investigation into Duggan's death. Colin Sparrow, deputy senior investigator for the IPCC, told an inquest into the death on Tuesday that their "complex investigation" could take four to six months.
The IPCC commissioner said in a written statement: "[We are] investigating not only the actions of the officer firing the shots but also the planning, decision making and implementation of the police operation. Our lines of enquiry include the bullets fired and any firearms used and recovered."
The TLC show My Strange Addiction has featured a wide variety of addictions like compulsive scab picking, wearing fur suits and eating toilet paper. But their episode featuring a widow named Casie of Fayetteville, Tennessee might be the most hard to believe yet.
26-year old Casie's husband Shawn, died from a severe asthma attack just a couple of months before the episode was taped. The addiction initially started with Casie literally carrying her husband's ashes everywhere she went. That soon escalated into her actually eating his ashes.
"Some of it spilled out on my hands. I didn't want to just wipe him away, so I just licked it off my fingers," she said "And here I am today, almost two months later and I can't stop."
With no cure in sight Casie's devotion to her husband, which includes cooking him meals and sleeping with his urn, doesn't appear to be stopping anytime soon.
"Some people laugh, they think I'm playing. But I'm serious - I mean that's my husband."
01 Intro f. DJ Smallz
02 Tuffer (prod. Nonstop)
03 50k f. Bun B (prod. Nonstop)
04 Bands f. Young Chu & Tk (prod. Lex Luger)
05 Fuck Wit Her (prod. Nonstop)
06 Sexy (prod. DJ Tech-neek)
07 Mr. Cosbi (prod. Nonstop)
08 Already Wet f. Coco Kiss (prod. Nonstop)
09 Rich Nigga (prod. Hitman Beatz)
10 Don’t Hate (prod. Jazze Pha)
11 Helicopter f. 2 Chainz & Twista (prod. Nonstop)
12 Never Comin’ Down
13 Arguin’ (prod. Lex Luger)
14 No Love Here (prod. Nonstop)
15 OG Kush (prod. Nonstop)
16 Benz Music (prod. Nonstop)
17 33 f. Rolls Royce Rizzy (prod. Streetz)
'Watch The Throne' has everyone buzzing. Everything from the album not leaking, to the volume of units reportedly sold without a real lead-in radio tune.
Kind of looked over in all the hoopla was whether or not the album actually lived up to it's lofty billing.
Check out a few reviews from critics coast to coast, and see if you agree.
Chicago Tribune: When two of the biggest names in hip-hop – Jay-Z and Kanye West -- collaborate on an album, is there any way it can live up to the hype? Likely not, and that’s the burden “Watch the Throne” faces. 2/4
USA Today: Star collaborations don’t always work out as well in practice as they do on paper (see: Jay-Z and R. Kelly). But in this case, they’ve created an artistic Throne that other rappers can aspire to. 4/4
AllHipHop: The Neptunes-produced “Gotta Have It” is pleasant, but the real gem is “New Day,” a song Jay and Kanye pen to their fictional unborn sons. It shows both as vulnerable and honest, backed by RZA and Kanye’s production. Kanye starts, “And I’d never let my son have an ego, we gon, be nice to everyone wherever we go / I mean I might even make him be Republican, so everybody know he love white people.” Jay vows to his son, ”Promise to never leave him even if his momma tweaking / Cause my Dad left me and I promised never repeat him.” 9/10
L.A. Times: Over the course of the album, West and Hova name-check with cultural equanimity, shouting out both Too Short and Larry Gagosian, bragging on their Rothkos and Basquiats, offering a nod “to the leader of the Jackson 5,” to Dale Earnhardt, Plato and Malcolm X. Interwoven are brand-name endorsements of Hermes, Audemars Piguet, Margiela and Gucci.
Huffington Post: These verses aren't aspirational, they're autobiographical. West's mother passed away in Los Angeles from complications from cosmetic surgery. Jay-Z can't give an interview without being asked when him and Beyonce are planning on fathering a child (in a recent surprise Hot 97 interview, he said he was "looking for the exits" as soon as Angie Martinez asked him when he wants to be dad). In an age of "I love you, love me" synth pop of Ladies Gaga, Spears and Perry, listening to Watch The Throne feels like coming off of happy pills and realizing that it's OK that sometimes, life doesn't just love you the way you were born.
New York Post : Watch the Throne” is neither West’s nor Jay-Z’s best, but count it as a success, especially getting two performers as dynamic and egomaniacal as this duo to mesh into a cohesive team.
TIME: But dig deep into Throne, past the bacchanal celebration of the finer things in life, and you'll find the album's heart: two men grappling with what it means to be successful and black in a nation that still thinks of them as second class.
The finest example of this is "Murder to Excellence," which compares the murder rate in Chicago to the death toll in Iraq. Jay-Z raps about Black Panther member Fred Hampton, killed in a police raid in 1969, and about Danroy Henry, a 20-year-old Pace University student who was shot outside a Pleasantville, NY bar by police in October 2010. "Is it genocide?" Kanye muses, "Cause I can still hear his mama cry." The song isn't angry and it isn't accusatory. It just seeks to catalog what's happening in urban communities ("The paper read murder / black-on-black murder" runs the chorus) and to understand why it seems like the violence will never stop.
Beanie Sigel pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges today in Philadelphia.
The former Roc-A-Fella Records signee earned more than $1.3 million between 2002 and 2004, but was accused of failing to file tax returns for those three years according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
His attorney, Fortunato Perri Jr., said he will contest the government's calculation of taxes owed at Sigel's sentencing hearing in November.
The 37-year old Sigel could face up to three years in prison.
A new rap beef has popped off between Mr. Cheeks and Joe Budden. I'm not sure where this originated, but it has Mr. Cheeks of Lost Boyz fame in a mood to smack somebody.
"Yall n*ggas gonna make me get on my motherf*cking '89 sh*t again. Where n*ggas used to smack n*ggas when we see them," Cheeks said. "Aint no motherf*cking internet sh*t no more. When n*ggas see each other they throw them hands up. N*ggas talkin bout Joe Budden coming at me. N*gga you still living?"
Budden has yet to respond, but given his history in rap beefs he probably will.
Damon Dash is really going through tough times right now. The former Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder made no attempts to hide his money problems in a recent interview on Shade 45's 'Sway in the Morning.'
"I owe way more than $2 million in taxes. That must've just been the IRS," Dash said, responding to a question about his finances. "Nah, nah, I'm f*cked up. If I say I owe $2 million to the government and I got it -- they're coming to get it. I aint got it."
People may wonder how a man that at one point was raking in millions of dollars ended up owing more that $200 million to the IRS and other creditors. Dame says it's the price of doing business.
"It's the price of business man... it is what it is," he said "I owe taxes I gotta pay. "They're auditing me -- when you're a businessman and you own a lot of businesses. A lot of the time they think you're laundering money, or you're pretending you're writing things off that you don't. But I'm a true businessman and I believe in my independence, I have no partners. So every dollar I make goes right back into every business I have."
If early numbers are an accurate indicator then 'Watch The Throne' is a smashing success.
The debut album from The Throne (Jay-Z and Kanye West) is on pace to move between 400,000-500,000 copies in it's 1st week. Those sales would make the album 2nd in first week sales only to Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way,' which moved 1.1 million units out of the gate according to Billboard
The album is being sold exclusively through iTunes, and won't be available to all other retail outlets until August 12.
Not bad for an album nobody knew was coming less than a year ago.
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