Archive for May, 2010
Kanye West has largely shunned the spotlight since his stage-crashing rant at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in September. Save for a few appearances — joining Beyoncé onstage at a London concert and joining a host of celebrities for the “We Are the World” remake — West has, for the most part, spoken only intermittently through blog posts and a guest turn on Fox’s animated series”The Cleveland Show.” (more…)
Rap music videos are often filled with angry young men waving guns and spitting rhymes about how much they despise police.
And nobody would be too surprised these days to tune into the nightly news and see yet another hip-hop artist facing drug, gun, or even murder charges.
So, the thought of cops and rappers working together to make the city safer is sure to raise some eyebrows.
But Toronto Police are hopeful this unlikely pairing is what’s needed to get young people’s attention. They’ve enlisted the help of seven local rappers for public service announcements as part of this summer’s TAVIS initiative.
“The only way we’re going to stop someone from getting shot is by convincing the person holding the gun to put it down,” said Const. Scott Mills, the force’s social media relations officer. “These guys are definitely pieces to that puzzle.”
Read more on CNews
SEAN COMBS has opened up about his jail visit to see incarcerated rapper LIL WAYNE – insisting the star “is doing great” behind bars.
Combs was approved by officials to meet with the Lollipop hitmaker – who was caged in March (10) after pleading guilty to gun possession charges – for an hour last month (Apr10).
The hip-hop star visited Wayne at Rikers Island prison in New York, and admits he urged the rapper to use his time in prison to make himself a “better person”.
Combs tells MTV News, “Wayne is a trooper. Wayne is doing great. It was a personal visit, so I don’t want to get into the details of that. We’re just counting down the days of him getting out. He’s somebody that has been there for me over the years numerous times.
“I live in New York. It wouldn’t have been right if I didn’t go see him and check on his health and well-being. But the status of where that’s at, that’s his personal business. I think we gonna miss a certain energy that Wayne has.
“The beauty about it is, he’ll be back, and hopefully he’ll come back a better person. Whenever we get in trouble, we’re in the public spotlight. So hopefully there’s a lot of kids out there who could learn from any mistakes that we may have put ourselves in, even if we’re not guilty of the crime sometimes.”
Read more on ContactMusic
The trend of rappers shifting into acting is nothing new, and in theory it makes sense. Both roles focus on emotive storytelling, right? Unfortunately, that transition isn’t always a smooth one–a point hammered home repeatedly by the new film Just Wright, starring Queen Latifah and Common. It’s 100 minutes of pure drivel.
Latifah has made the leap to legitimate movie star, but Common is still relatively new to the game. This is due in large part to the fact that he’s a terrible actor (Smokin’ Aces? Really?). (more…)
At last night’s Yankees vs. Tigers baseball game at Comerica Park in Detroit, Jay-Z and Eminem announced that they will co-headline two shows at their hometown baseball stadiums. The Rap stars will play Detroit’s Comerica Park on September 2 and New York’s Yankee Stadium on September 13. The last time Eminem headlined a show was at the New Orleans Voodoo Music Experience in October 2009.
“This is a once in a lifetime set of shows, and I know we’re both really going to bring it to our hometowns,” said Eminem. “The fans are going to love this, and so am I. It’s gonna be historic.”
“These shows are like a dream come true,” Jay-Z added. “I’ve always hoped that hip-hop could play any stadium like other genres of music. How perfect is it that Eminem and I get to play our hometowns and show how far the live rap experience has come?”
In other Hova and Slim Shady news, Em’s new single, “Not Afraid,” is just the 16th song to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the 52-year history of the chart. Released digitally on May 3, “Not Afraid” comes out of the gate with 380,000 first-week downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which is the biggest sales week for a digital track this year. The song also debuts at #24 on the radio-based Rap Songs chart and is bubbling under the Radio Songs chart with 10.3 million listener impressions, according to Nielsen BDS. Eminem’s new album, Recovery, is due on June 22.
Read more on FMQB
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