People.Com Reports
With his group the Black Eye Peas nominated for an impressive six Grammys, including the top prizes of album and record of the year, will.i.am has plenty of reasons to look forward to next month's awards show – something that wasn't necessarily the case during his first Grammy experience.
"I remember that I was nervous," the musician, 34, told PEOPLE about his 2005 appearance. Recalling his Grammy debut while at an event announcing the first-ever Data Awards for electronic music, he said, "I was real nervous. We performed "Where Is the Love." I remember I got up on the mic and said, 'Everybody go out and vote.' "
While the Peas didn't perform on last year's telecast, will.i.am attended – as a contender. "I was nominated for producer of the year award," he said. "I lost to Rick Rubin again, [who] is good to lose to."
Known for unorthodox live collaborations and performances, the Grammy Awards have attracted a host of superstars for duets in past years. "My favorite Grammy moment lately [was] the Prince and Beyoncé performance," will.i.am says, remembering the singers' 2004 duet of "Purple Rain," "just seeing Prince and Beyoncé rocking."
Watch the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, live on CBS – and catch up on all the news and style from the show on PEOPLE.com!
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Rolling Stone Reports
Drake has lined up Jay-Z, Young Jeezy and “Forever” co-stars Kanye West and Lil Wayne to appear on his much-anticipated debut album Thank Me Later, the rapper told MTV News. Backstage at Wednesday’s Grammy Nominations Concert, the MC told Rolling Stone, “My album is slated to come out in March. I’m still working on the album, but they might try to move it up.”
Even without releasing a full album, Rolling Stone’s 2009 Artist to Watch was still nominated for a pair of Grammys, locking up nods in both the Best Rap Song and Best Rap Solo Performance categories for “Best I Ever Had.” It hasn’t been all good news for Drake in 2009, as a leg injury forced the Canadian rapper off Lil Wayne’s America’s Most Wanted tour, but it allowed Drake to instead focus on his debut disc. “It’s just pulling everybody together: I had a wish list for my managers of everybody I wanted involved that stem beyond hip-hop,” Drake told MTV. “I’m trying to pull it all together.”
One person Drake had high on his wish list of collaborators is R&B singer Sade, though it doesn’t appear that the two have recorded together yet. Plus, there was one more mystery guest that Drake was tight-lipped about. “It’s this other one I’m excited about that’s kinda left [field],” Drake told MTV. “It’s gonna be a great project — well-rounded.”
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Holly SampsonNY Daily News Reports
Tiger Woods' other New York girl spent the day holed up in her plush Chelsea pad Sunday after she was outed by the Daily News.
Cori Rist is now one of at least six women linked to the golf world's top swordsman.
The 31-year-old leggy and busty blond spent Sunday calling friends, saying, "My involvement with Tiger Woods has just surfaced," according to a pal.
Cori Rist
Rist also had to explain the sudden media attention to her 7-year-old son, who has idolized Woods since his mother got him an autographed golf club from the Grand Slam-winning legend.
The alleged mistress' ex-husband, Neil Santos, stopped at her apartment Sunday night to drop off their son but refused to comment.
Woods met Rist at New York hot spot Butter last year, The News' George Rush and Joanna Molloy reported Sunday.
"They went on to another party," an insider told The News. "One thing led to another, and, pretty soon, Tiger was flying her to hook up with him on tour."
Rist said she is declining to comment "at this time" on the fling, which lasted about six months, sources said. She was last spotted at Butter with Woods and a party of friends on a Monday night four weeks ago, a source said.
Rist is said to have tired of being secreted around the country for her hookups with Woods.
"Tiger would typically get a large suite at a hotel. Someone would book Cori an adjacent room, so she wouldn't be seen coming into his room," an insider told Rush and Molloy.
"He would get the presidential suite," the source continued. "It was the ultimate in luxury. The trouble is, he never wanted to leave the room."
Hailing from the small rural town of Rossford, Ohio, Rist moved to the city determined tobecome a fashion model, butthe closest she got to her dream was modeling swimsuits and activewear in catalogues, a friend said.
She and Santos married in 2002, but by 2005 the relationship was starting to sour. A friend said Rist began taking mysterious trips around the country, frequenting city nightclubs and dressing in expensive clothes and jewelry.
After her divorce was finalized in January 2008, she met Woods, she told friends. She and Santos are battling in Family Court over custody of their son, records show.
As Woods remained in seclusion Sunday, talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey reportedly called him to offer advice - and an outlet to tell his side of the story. Image experts said it could be a good first step toward repairing his image.
While most of the women who have come out of the woodwork were often flown around the world to meet him, Woods didn't have to stray far from the comforts of his Florida home to find booze and blonds who were not his wife.
He found plenty of homegrown action at Orlando clubs just minutes from his family home in Windermere, Fla., The News has learned.
He was a regular in the VIP rooms at Blue Martini and Club 23, where the billion-dollar man has been known to drop $1,500 a night at the swanky joints.
"When Tiger goes out in Orlando he certainly goes to Blue Martini," a local club insider told The News. "Any rich and horny guy from the suburbs can go there and leave with a girl on each arm."
The cavernous party spot is full of intimate corners where regulars say Woods was often seen with packs of women around him.
TMZ.com reported that nearby Club 23 even has a private section known as "The Tiger Room" because Woods spent so many nights there.
Reports of Woods' close-to-home dalliances come amid reports Sunday that he also hooked up with an Orlando waitress, Mindy Lawton, in a church parking lot and even his home while his then-pregnant wife was out of town.
She told London's News of the World that he "wanted to spank me and loved pulling my hair as we had sex."
Mindy Lawton
Other reports linked Woods to 36-year-old blond porn star Holly Sampson. Britain's Daily Mail reported that the Los Angeles hottie - star of such recent adult films as "OMG, Stop Tickling Me" and "Flying Solo 2" - is "not denying she bedded Tiger."
"She has no comment on the matter," Sampson's Denver-based lawyer Andrew Contiguglia told The News.
If true, Sampson would be lucky No. 7 on the list of purported Woods' bedmates, which includes hot-bodied blonds and brunettes with an average age of 30.
The list started with big-lipped beauty Rachel Uchitel, a Manhattan club hostess who hoofed it to Los Angeles to meet lawyer Gloria Allred in the early days of the now-epic Woods scandal that first broke the day after Thanksgiving. Uchitel has both denied and confirmed a relationship with Woods.
Kalika Moquin, Jaimee Grubbs, Rachel Uchitel
Woods' scorecard of girls also includes:
- Jaimee Grubbs, former contestant on VH1's "Tool Academy" who has admitted to an affair.
- Kalika Moquin, a 27-year-old Las Vegas nightclub executive, who denies a relationship.
- Jamie Jungers, a Vegas cocktail waitress who allegedly had an 18-month fling with Woods.
Jamie Jungers
The sex scandal erupted in the early-morning hours after Thanksgiving when the golfer crashed his SUV outside his house - apparently after an argument with his wife over another woman.
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Video After The JumpMTV Reports
Rihanna and Lady Gaga have a lot in common. They are both innovative pop stars with a concrete vision for their music and image. They are both fashionistas with a love for forward-thinking style. And they certainly both have swagger.
Maybe that's why Rihanna has so much respect for her contemporary. "She has a very bold, fearless image," Rihanna told MTV News on the set of her "Hard" music video.
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BallerStatus.com Reports
Fans of D-Block (Jadakiss, Sheek Louch and Styles P) have been anxiously awaiting a new album from the trio, also known as The Lox, for years. While they've said in recent press that the album is being worked on, no one really knows when it's coming.
Sheek touched on the progress recently, revealing that he and his group members have been working with Diddy, trying to hash out a deal where the project would be release via D-Block and Bad Boy Records.
"Yo word up, top of the year, Lox album is coming," Sheek began, during an interview with Hot 93.7 radio show, On-Air Idiots. "I would love for it to come then, we're working actually with Puff, with Sean Combs. We working out that. Puff Daddy, we working that out. We working that out and hopefully it goes down. It's gonna be Interscope/Bad Boy/D-Block. Oh yo, slash Ruff Ryders. I'm sorry, I can't leave my boys out. It's like a big thing because we still Interscope. We still Ruff Ryders. It'll be a nice thing."
While nothing is set it stone, it sounds like The Lox is really happy to be working with Diddy again.
In a recent interview with Power 99, Jadakiss weighed in on the Lox reunion. He said it's the trio's main focus right now, and even if they're unable to work out the details with Diddy, he promises the project will be coming soon.
"Our main focus right now is that Lox album," Jada stressed. "It might be coming out through Diddy, it might be coming out through some other people, but it's going down.
"Diddy just did a new deal with Interscope, as y'all know with his Dirty Money and all his other stuff," the rapper cotinued. "He put an offer out there for a one album deal over there, so you know, we thinking about making it."
As for the problems The Lox went through with Diddy in the past, Jada admitted that the group learned a lot from the hip-hop mogul, and if a deal with him makes sense, they will go for it.
"If it don't make dollars, it could make cents and we'll do it again," Jada said. "It's about the evolution, it's about growing. We came into the business with him -- despite our differences [because] of our lack of knowledge in the game and other sh** and what so -- we still learned a lot from him. To work all them things out and make a full 360 and possibly work again with him after ten years, that would be incredible. It shows maturity as artists, it shows respect as men and it's good for the outside far as what he can do for us and what we can do for him."
While The Lox sound like they are with it, so does Diddy. While speaking with MTV recently, he expressed his interest in working with his former labelmates again.
"I would definitely love to do the next Lox album," Diddy said. "I would love to collaborate with them. I think it's important just to do ... I would look forward to it ... We been talking about it."
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Videos After JumpJanet Jackson and Lady Gaga gave two very different performances on X-Factor. I'm not talking about the styles of music either. Lady Gaga's performance featured live vocals and a gigantic bathtub during "Bad Romance". While Janet chose to lip synch her way through "All For You and "Make Me"
Janet Jackson "All For You" x "Make Me"Lady Gaga "Bad Romance"
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Videos After The JumpRihanna appeared on NBC's Saturday Night Live last night (December 5th) to perform two songs off her new album 'Rated R'. The Snowman Young Jeezy showed up to lend a hand on "Hard" while Riri did her solo thing on "Russian Roulette". Rihanna gave a glimpse of her comedy skills in the hilarious Digital Short "Shy Ronnie" with Andy Samberg.
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Video After The Jump50 Cent hit up BBC Radio1 to check in with the UK's #1 instigator, Tim Westwood. He addressed the Tiger Woods saga, letting Tim know the mistakes he feels Tiger made with his jump offs. I found it really interesting how Tim pretended not to remember that it was he who basically goaded Jay-Z into saying the now infamous "Nobody is scared of 50 Cent" line. Also somebody needs to send an air mail to Tim letting him know what's going on over here in the U.S.. Because he's the only one that doesn't seem to know that "Pimpin Curly" is locked up and has been for a minute.
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Video After The Jump
Troubled comedian Katt Williams spoke out about being detained yesterday at a Georgia Wal Mart. Katt claims he had some words with the boyfriend of a girl he just hired inside the store. He noticed that one of the family members that was with the boyfriend had a pistol so he suggested they all step outside. Once outside, the police were called, he was then detained and his semi-truck searched which resulted in some of his camera equipment being broken. In the end, Katt was not charged with any wrongdoing.
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Videos After The JumpPhilly.com Reports
PHILADELPHIA - A school counselor suffering an apparent heart attack died in a Philadelphia emergency room after waiting nearly 80 minutes for help , and a trio of homeless drug addicts nearby stole his watch instead of seeking aid, police said.Joaquin Rivera, 63, died before seeing a triage nurse at Atria Health's Frankford Campus over the weekend, police said.
Rivera, a musician and activist in the city's Latino community, had spent more than 30 years working as a bilingual counselor at an inner-city high school.
"We're all destroyed. A guy like that, for him to leave us the way that he did , and with what happened to him , everybody's destroyed," said Jesse Bermudez, a friend and fellow musician.
Rivera's cruel end was captured on security videotape, much like the June 2008 death of Esmin Green, who died on a hospital floor as staffers at Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn ignored her. Green's family recently settled a lawsuit against the city for $2 million.
Rivera had walked to the Northeast Philadelphia hospital late Saturday from his home a few blocks away after pain started shooting down his right side. He registered at 10:45 p.m. and took a seat, chatting for about 20 minutes with two men and a woman nearby.
Based on witness accounts, police believe Rivera passed out about an hour later. Security video then shows one of the men steal his watch and briefly pass it to the other.
"There's no resistance from Mr. Rivera at all, which is why we believe he's probably dead. There's no stirring from him," said Capt. Jack McGinnis, a city detective.
The second suspect is then seen by doctors, and a security guard arrives to ask his sleeping companions to leave. A witness first reports that Rivera may be dead.
At 12:04 a.m., he is pronounced dead.
"You would hope he would have died with dignity," McGinnis said.
Aria Health offered condolences to the family Tuesday but otherwise declined comment, citing patient confidentiality and the pending criminal case.
McGinnis describes the three suspects as homeless drug addicts. Police arrested one of them, 44-year-old Richard Alten, at the hospital and a second one, Martin Smith later. The third suspect is still being sought.
Detectives have seen the video footage, but Aria Health had not yet produced a copy for them, McGinnis said. Police hope to publicize it to find the missing pair.
Drug addicts, he said, will steal from family , or the dead.
"It seems despicable, but they would do it," McGinnis said. "(The death) seemed like a perfect opportunity."
Alten remains in custody, and the public defender's office representing him declined comment.
A preliminary ruling suggests Rivera died of hypertension. He is survived by his wife and three children.
Rivera also leaves behind a rich musical legacy that includes local radio and TV appearances in which he shared the music he learned as a boy in the mountains of Cayey, Puerto Rico. He also inspired countless Olney High School students to attend college, Bermudez said.
Bermudez last saw his friend Saturday afternoon, when they played together at Centro Musical, a neighborhood music store that serves as a gathering place for Latino musicians.
"Without him, the traditional folk music of Puerto Rico wouldn't be alive here in Philadelphia," Bermudez said.
Joaquin Rivera Being Robbed As He DiesTwo Men Arrested In Robbery
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Video After The Jump
First Rihanna appeared on ABC's 20/20, now Chris Brown has his turn. Chris is still facing an uphill battle as he fights the stigma that comes with being labeled a 'woman-abuser'. In this interview he was candid and open, repeating that he was sorry for what happened several times. He also contradicted Rihanna when she told ABC's Diane Sawyer that she hadn't heard the song "Changed Man" he wrote for her a month after the incident. Chris said he played the song for Rihanna and she cried.
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Video After The JumpThe Youngest In Charge, Cory Gunz unleashes visuals for one the hottest tracks off of his "Heir To The Throne" mixtape. In this Pulp Fiction inspired video directed by John Columbo, Cory keeps his cool and keeps spitting while the restaurant he's in is getting jacked.
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Video After The Jump
EOnline Reports
Katt Williams needs a hobby that doesn't involve law enforcement.
After having been arrested at least three times in the last three years, the otherwise-quite-successful comedian upped the ante and has been arrested two times in the last two months.
And that doesn't include being detained for questioning at a Wal-Mart in Newnan, Ga., today.
Per TMZ, Williams, who's facing burglary and trespassing charges for what he has called a mixup between him and "two stupid detectives," was arrested earlier this week over an issue with his bond.
He posted $41,150 bail last month after being accused of breaking into his friend's guest house and stealing cash and rare coins.
Today, however, Williams got off without seeing the inside of a jail.
Police responded to a 911 call from a Wal-Mart patron who claimed a member of Williams' entourage broke out a shotgun during some sort of altercation in the parking lot.
The Pimpadelic comic was handcuffed and questioned in the back of a squad car but released without being formally busted. Two people were charged with disorderly conduct, according to Newnan police.
While Williams has a long way to go to equal the streak DMX was on last year, he'd best nip his proclivity for trouble-making in the bud before he ends up behind bars for 90 days.
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Video After The JumpMSNBC Reports
PERUGIA, Italy - American college student Amanda Knox was found guilty of murdering her British roommate and sentenced to 26 years in prison early Saturday after a year-long trial that gripped Italy and drew intense media attention.
Her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also convicted and sentenced to 25 years. They were also convicted of sexual assault in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old student from England.
As soon as the judge read the verdict just after midnight following some 13 hours of deliberations, Knox began weeping and murmured, “No, no,” then hugged one of her lawyers.
Minutes later, the 22-year-old Knox, who is from Seattle and the 25-year-old Sollecito, were put in police vans with sirens blaring and driven back to jail.
Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, Italy’s stiffest sentence. Courts often give less severe punishment than what prosecutors demand.
'Just wrong'
The American’s father, Curt Knox, asked if he would fight on for his daughter, replied, with tears in his eyes: “Hell, yes.”
“This is just wrong,” her stepmother, Cassandra Knox, said, turning around immediately after hearing the verdict. Her family had insisted she was innocent and a victim of character assassination.
One of Knox’s lawyers, Luciano Ghirga, was asked if she was desperate.
“Yes, I challenge anyone not to be,” he replied.
A group of local youths who gathered outside the courthouse shouted insults and “assassin” at the Knox entourage as they walked in to hear the verdict.
The family said Knox will appeal the verdict.
Knox and Sollecito were charged with murder and sexual assault in the slaying of Meredith Kercher more than two years ago. All three were studying in Perugia in Italy's central Umbria region at the time.
Meridith Kercher
Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on Nov. 2, 2007, in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox. Prosecutors contended the 21-year-old Leeds University student was murdered the previous night.
Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca called the verdict and sentence “satisfactory” for the family, but he acknowledged that the defendants’ loved ones were also pained.
“There is deep suffering on all sides,” Maresca said, adding that Kercher's family planned to hold a news conference late on Saturday.
Knox, who is from Seattle, and Sollecito, had been jailed since shortly after the slaying.
Raffaele Sollecito
Relatives and friends in Seattle clasped hands as they watched TV and waited for the verdict. Her uncle, Mick Huff, cried, "Oh God, no" when it was announced.
Other friends buried their faces in their hands and shook their heads.
"They didn't listen to the facts of the case," said Elisabeth Huff, Knox's grandmother. "All they did was listen to the media's lies."
Madison Paxton, a friend of Knox's, said: "They're convicting a made-up person. They they're convicting 'foxy Knoxy.' That's not Amanda."
In a statement, the family said: "We are extremely disappointed in the verdict rendered today against our daughter. ... It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda's character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution's case against her."
'Fumes of drugs'
The prosecutors contend on the night of the murder, Knox and Sollecito met at the apartment where Kercher and Knox lived. They say a fourth person was there, Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast citizen who has been convicted in the murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede, who is appealing his conviction, says he was in the house the night of the murder but did not kill Kercher.
Rudy Guede
The prosecution says Knox and Kercher started arguing, and that Knox joined the two men in brutally attacking and sexually assaulting the Briton under "the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol."
Throughout the trial, prosecutors depicted Knox as a promiscuous and manipulative she-devil whose personality clashed with her roommate's. They say Knox had grown to hate Kercher.
During the trial, the most intimate details of Knox's life were examined, from her lax hygiene — allegedly a point of contention with Kercher — to her sex life, even including a sex toy.
Knox said Kercher was a friend whose slaying shocked and saddened her.
Defense lawyers have described the American, who made the dean's list at the University of Washington, as a smart and cheerful woman, at one point even comparing her to film character Amelie, the innocent and dreamy girl in the 2001 French movie of the same title.
That is the film Knox and Sollecito say they were watching at his home on the night of the murder, where they say they smoked marijuana and had sex. Knox said she went home the next morning to find the door to the house open and Kercher dead.
The prosecution maintains that a 6 1/2-inch knife authorities found at Sollecito's house could be the murder weapon; they say Kercher's DNA was found on the blade and Knox's on the handle. However, defense lawyers argue the knife was too big to match Kercher's wounds and the amount of DNA collected was too small to determine with certainty whose it was.
'Violence is purposeless'
The defense maintained there was not enough evidence for a conviction and no clear motive.
However, prosecutor Manuela Comodi said violent crimes can lack a motive. "We live at a time where violence is purposeless," she told the jury.
Knox gave contradictory versions of the night of the slaying, saying at one point she was home and had to cover her ears to block out Kercher's screams and accusing a Congolese man of the killing. The man, Patrick Diya Lumumba, owns a pub in Perugia where Knox worked. He was jailed briefly but was later cleared and is seeking defamation damages from Knox.
Patrick Lumumba Diya
Knox later contended that police pressure led her to initially accuse an innocent man.
Looks like the Tila Tequila vs Rihanna Beef Is Officially On. Tila wasted no time firing back at RiRi after hearing her taking shots on the radio this morning. Peep what Tila has to say below.
From TilasHotSpotHIDDEN SECRETS REVEALED FROM INSIDE SOURCES: RIHANNA HAS HERPES!!!!!!!!!! OMGGGG!
Wow, I'm sorry girlfriend, but you were cool until u decided to open up your mouth about me so I have no choice. Everyone in the entertainment industry knows, you just do not f*ck with Tila Tequila and think you can get away with it! Even Perez Hilton knows that(that's another inside story I have about him & myself, but I will post about that in another blog).
So everyone, yes.....I heard from legit sources, that is the HUGE SECRET our prestine, perfect little Princess RiRi, the "IDOL" has been hiding from the media. A very close source of mine, who works in the same legal camp as Rihanna, has told me that the reason why Rihanna wasn't speaking out about the CHRIS BROWN incident is because there was a catch 22 in it. Rihanna has herpes, and....well......I don't wanna put anyone else on blast, but Rihanna has herpes and gave someone else herpes that she had slept with.
My sources are very legit, and they work in Rihanna's legal camp, and that is how I know! SO RIHANNA HAS HERPES, STD'S & WAS SCARED TO SPEAK OUT ABOUT IT CUZ SHE DIDN'T WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW THAT SHE HAS HERPES AND INFECTED SOMEONE ELSE WITH IT! BAD RIHANNA!
So while you cascade around town, acting like yo sh*t don't stink, and leading the media and your fans into thinking that you are a strong woman, and idol, well....it's a shame you had to trick them into thinking you are, because truth is, you're ruining other people's lives, infecting people with your STD's, and walking around getting praised and loving the sympathy, when really, in real life you are just a major b*tch who could give 2 shits about your fans and all the people who have been supporting you! Including myself! You dont even acknowledge your fans, you know, the people who got you famous??? Yes....those people. THE FANS! The ones that I, myself, acknowledge 247 all the time because if it weren't for my fans, I would not be here today! I love my fans, I don't lie to my fans to make them like me more, and everyone knows it. I have my flaws, but I put it out there, and I let my fans decide on whether they agree with the things I do or not. Im real, and I don't care what anyone has to say about me. All I do is mind my own business, and play with my fans.
But since you're still cascading around town like you're a prefect little princess, angel.....honey I hate to burst your bubbles.....but yes....yo sh*t really do stink, and even worse.....yo sh*t has STD's, known as HERPES, down in your private area.
So.....that's about it. Sorry I had to tell the world your DIRTY SECRET, but you left me no choice girlfriend. I knew about your secret for A VERY LONG TIME, but I never told anyone because that was not my business......but since you wanna play dirty with me......oh....you best believe I will give it to you good girlfriend! POW!
Rihanna has STD's and Herpes everyone! & that is the truth from my legit source that has told me. YIKES! So boys, be careful when u wanna tap that ass, cuz that ass will give your d*ck Herpes if you dont put 3 condoms over it! EWWW!
THE END!
Sincerely,
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Video After The JumpWho says real men don't cry? Allen Iverson, a sure fire Hall Of Famer and also one of the toughest players to ever play in the NBA let his emotions get the best of him during a press conference announcing his return to the Philadephia 76'ers. A.I. wanted the world to know that he came back to prove he still has what it takes to dominate the game.
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Vibe Reports
The Jigga Man is not the only MC with the skills to spit well into his golden years. While we wait for Q-Tip, Redman, and Ghostface Killah to cross the big 4-0 in 2010, here are five vets who prove they are not ready to go gentle into that good night.
Raekwon
Age: 41
O.G. Status: The Chef and Staten Island crew first warned the rap industry they were "nothing to fuck with" on their riveting 1993 debut Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Two years later, Raekwon unleashed what many critics view as the most impactful solo album from a Wu-Tang Clan member--Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. The aftermath? Rae's cocaine-laced street lyricism took crime rhyme to daring, uncharted heights producing one of hip hop's true storied works.
Why He Shouldn't Hang Up The Mic Just Yet: Almost 15 years later, Rae proves that the long-delayed, but scarily focused and verbally relentless sequel Only Built For Cuban Linx... Pt. II was well-worth the wait. What took you so long?
Show & Prove: Raekwon keeps it grimy on "Surgical Gloves."
Rakim
Age: 41
O.G. Status: By the time Eric B & Rakim's 1986 game-changing Paid In Full dropped, the God MC had already re-imagined the course of hip hop, creating a complex rhyme cadence, elevated verbiage and a labyrinth-like flow that would be praised, dissected and followed by MC's for the next 20 plus years. Yeah, he was that good.
Why He Shouldn't Hang Up The Mic Just Yet: Because Rakim is not resting on his legacy as rap's most influential lyricist. On his third solo effort, The Seventh Seal, the Microphone Field still aspires to greatness, crafting layered, rewind-worthy lines (over somewhat lackluster production; but that's another story) that rappers half his age could only dream of.
Show & Prove: Rakim delivers the goods on "Satisfaction Guaranteed."
KRS-One
Age: 44
O.G. Status: Blastmaster helped give birth to gangsta rap (Boogie Down Productions' Criminal Minded, 1986); penned the most celebrated diss record of all-time not named "Ether" ("The Bridge Is Over"); made social consciousness cool (KRS led the all-star "Self Destruction" charity single in 1989 in response to rising violence in urban communities); and provided the template for hip hop longevity well into the '90s.
Why He Shouldn't Hang Up The Mic Just Yet: Listen to KRS-One's defiant collaboration with legendary Brooklyn spitter Buckshot (this year's confident Survival Skill) Does he sound like a man ready for his gold watch?
Show & Prove: KRS-One shuts down the BET 2009 Cypher.
Posdnuos
Age: 40
O.G. Status: After you ponder the staggering realization that De La Soul is currently celebrating the 20th Anniversary of their 1989 landmark introduction 3 Feet High And Rising (where did the time go?!!!), do yourself a favor and Google any verse from group member Posdnuos. What you will find is a criminally slept on talent who is as lyrically layered (and at times perplexing) as he is honest.
Why He Shouldn't Hang Up The Mic Just Yet: Check out De La's Nike-backed Are You In?--part of the athletic shoe giant's acclaimed Original Run series. Pos hasn't lost a step.
Show & Prove: Plug One makes you a believer on "Big Mouf."
LL Cool J
Age: 41
O.G. Status: His game-changing debut Radio launched hip hop's most storied label Def Jam. Twenty-five million albums later, LL is a bonafied music icon.
Why He Shouldn't Hang Up The Mic Just Yet: We can forgive him for his uneven Def Jam swan song Exit 13 (2008) after hearing a hungry LL on his mixtape The Return of the G.O.A.T. Hey, maybe he'll even find time to get back in the booth when he's not busy with his gig on CBS's NCIS: Los Angeles.
Show & Prove: LL goes in on "Laptop Gangstaz."
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Video After The JumpAfter all the allegations, affairs, and payoffs, something funny finally comes out of theTiger Woodscheating saga. HalfDayToday.comremixed Tiger's voice mail to one of his jump offs into a hilarious slow jam. Props to them for the lols.
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