The legendary rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, says he was "born again" during a visit to Jamaica in January. He discovered his true inner Rastafarian self, reports Huffington Post.
"I want to bury Snoop Dogg, and become Snoop Lion. I didn't know that until I went to the temple, where the High Priest asked me what my name was, and I said, 'Snoop Dogg.' And he looked me in my eyes and said, 'No more. You are the light; you are the lion.' From that moment on, it's like I had started to understand why I was there."
And now, he's ready to make music that his "kids and grandparents can listen to."
He's also releasing a reggae album called Reincarnated in the fall, Snoop announced at a news conference in New York on Monday, reports AP.
"Rap is not a challenge to me," Snoop said at a gathering of journalists and friends Monday night in the backroom of Manhattan's Miss Lily's restaurant, "I've won every accolade you can get in rap, they call me 'Uncle Snoop' in rap. When you're an uncle, it's time to find something new ... I want to feel like a kid again."
Later, he played five songs for the small crowd, including one that features his daughter, titled No Guns Allowed.
The album will be followed with a documentary on Snoop and his music. According to AP, the film will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
After winning the Gold in the 400m Men's swimming competition, Ryan Lochte donned a custom grill with a design of the American flag in red, white and blue diamonds after beating out competitors including eight-time Gold medalist Michael Phelps. We all know the importance of having a grill or fronts in Hip-Hop—it usually means you're a baller or at least emulating one—which is why it was exciting to see a representative from the United States, and a favorite to win multiple medals, wear such a grandiose-esque piece.
Unfortunately, The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in charge of the two week marathon of athletic excellence, was not having any of it and told the swimmer to he wouldn't get his Gold medal if he wore his iced out grill to the winner's podium. It's strange to think that the IOC would withhold a medal, especially if that medal so happens to be Gold, for wearing a piece of jewelry as a show of pride for his country. Everything turned out alright in the end; Ryan Lochte got his Gold medal and even got to flaunt his iced out fronts next to his shiny new prize.
Three people have waived their court hearings following their arrests in connection to a 13-month-old who ingested crack cocaine.
A Fulton County judge set bond at $30,000 for the toddler's mother, 17-year-old Andrica Daniel, the toddler's grandmother, 34-year-old Ebony Daniel, and Ebony Daniel's boyfriend, 22-year-old Charlie Martin, on Thursday morning.
Palmetto police said the toddler, Jay'von Daniel, ate the crack cocaine when he was in the care of Ebony Daniel and Martin Saturday at Martin's house on Elm Drive. Jay'von was released from the hospital Monday.
Prior to her arrest, Andrica Daniel spoke to CBS Atlanta News about what happened.
"I had asked them to watch him while I took a shower," she said.
Andrica Daniel said when she got out of the shower, she knew something was wrong because Martin was upset.
"He went into the room and came right back out. He was like, 'Man shorty, what happened to my crack?' He was cussing me out like I took it," Andrica Daniel said.
Andrica Daniel said she didn't see Jay'von eat the crack-cocaine. But because she didn't want to take any chances, she rushed her son to the hospital.
"His blood pressure kept going up and down. He was throwing up," Andrica Daniel said. "They ran tests on his urine. He tested positive for crack-cocaine. That's how we know he ate it."
Martin and Ebony Daniel were arrested on Tuesday and charged with possession of cocaine, child cruelty and reckless conduct.
On Wednesday, police also charged Andrica Daniel with the same charges as her mother and Martin.
All three are expected back in court Aug. 9.
The toddler was placed in the care of the Division of Family and Children Services.
Three waive court hearings after toddler eats crack cocaine - CBS Atlanta 46
WOMEN appear to have won a decisive victory in the battle of the sexes. Psychologists have found female IQ scores have risen above men's for the first time.
Since IQ testing began a century ago, women have been as much as five points behind, leading psychologists to suggest embedded genetic differences.
That gap has been narrowing in recent years and this year women have moved ahead.
The finding has been made by James Flynn, a world-renowned authority on IQ tests. "In the last 100 years the IQ scores of both men and women have risen but women's have risen faster," said Flynn. "This is a consequence of modernity. The complexity of the modern world is making our brains adapt and raising our IQ."
One possible explanation is that women's lives have become more demanding as they multitask between raising a family and doing a job. Another is that women have a slightly higher potential intelligence than men and are only now realising it.
Flynn, who will publish his findings in a new book, said more data were needed to explain the trend. "The full effect of modernity on women is only just emerging," he said.
The history of IQ testing is controversial because it has consistently shown differences between genders and races. The key advance was the 1980s discovery of the "Flynn Effect" which showed that scores in western countries increased by roughly three points a decade.
It means modern Caucasian westerners score about 30 points more than people living 100 years ago. It also showed IQ was not genetic and could be improved.
Flynn tested that idea by collating new IQ tests from countries in western Europe and from America, Canada, New Zealand, Argentina and Estonia.
These showed that in westernised countries the gap between men and women had become trivial.
The data for making exact comparisons was sparser and could be carried out for only a handful of countries. It included Australia, where male and female IQs were found to be almost identical. In New Zealand, Estonia and Argentina, women scored marginally more than men.
"What we are seeing here is the impact of modernity," said Flynn. "As the world gets more complex, and living in it demands more abstract thought, so people are adapting. I suspect that the same trends are happening in Britain, too, although the data is too sparse to be sure.
"The brains of modern people are growing differently and showing increased cognitive complexity which we measure as increases in IQ. This improvement is more marked for women than for men because they were more disadvantaged in the past."
Emma Gordon, 23, who achieved a 2:1 degree in history at Bristol University, and works as a marketing executive at the Financial Times Group, lives with her boyfriend Chris, 22, a photographer. She said: "It is more acceptable these days for the woman to be the more intellectual person in the relationship and the man to be maybe the more creative or emotional, as long as you complement each other."
For many women such stereotypes are being reversed. Helena Jamieson, 33, a consultant, studied English literature at Cambridge and her husband, Luke, 37, a stay-at-home father, studied geography at Kent University.
She said: "We have done the role reversal. I'm definitely the more intellectual person in the relationship and I'm at work full time rising up the career ladder while he is raising our daughter.
"In the past men would belittle me and that is just never an attractive quality in a man. I think women probably always knew secretly deep down that they were the more intelligent ones - but as the gentler sex as well we were quiet about it and let men continue to believe that they ruled the world."
Oklahoma City, OK- Tavares Donnell Colbert, 36 years young and a felon previously convicted of possession of a controlled and dangerous substance with intent to distribute, was arrested at Southwest Medical Center after seeking medical attention for a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his penis.
Colbert told police that he had bought a gun in Kansas and was preparing to sell it in a convenience store parking lot in Oklahoma when he pulled over to check the gun’s readiness for sale. As it turns out, the gun was functioning properly, as long as the definition of “functioning properly” includes “makes extra holes in penises very effectively.”
Colbert told police that when he tried to force the slide back, he also had his finger on the trigger. The gun went off and he shot himself in the penis. According to the police report, Colbert panicked and drove himself to the hospital. I can’t think of anything that would induce more panic in this writer than sending a bullet careening through his own junk, and that’s as truthful as I’ll ever be with any of you.
When police arrived at the hospital, they informed Colbert that it was illegal for a felon to own a firearm. You’d figure that most felons would be well aware of this, and Colbert was. After all, that’s why he says he was looking to sell it, but when you’re speaking with a man who has just blasted his own cock with a firearm, it’s best not to take a single I.Q. point for granted.
He was booked into the Oklahoma County jail on one count of possession of a firearm. No word on how his penis is doing, but I have a feeling that the condition of his anus will be of the most concern going forward.
Five of Michael Jackson’s disinherited siblings are again claiming that the singer’s will is “fake, flawed and fraudulent” — and that his lawyers forged the King of Pop’s signature on it.
Tito, Randy, Jermaine, Janet and Rebbie Jackson penned a poison letter to the late singer’s estate lawyers, restating an old claim that it is bogus, and demanding that the lawyers, John Branca and John McClain, resign immediately as executors of Jacko’s estate.
“Our brother told us, in no uncertain terms and without hesitation in the months prior to his death, that he despised both of you and he did not want either of you to have anything to do with his life or estate for that matter,” the siblings wrote.
Specifically, the Jackson 5 claims that it has proof that Michael was in New York, not in Los Angeles, on the day he supposedly signed his will on the West Coast.
They also claim that Branca and McClain lied to get family matriarch Katherine Jackson, 82, to agree to increase their percentage of the gross income from their brother’s estate.
“Your actions are affecting her health, and on top of that, we’ve just found out she recently had a mini-stroke,” the Jacksons wrote. “Please understand, she’s not equipped to handle the stress load you are putting on her.”
Katherine Jackson is raising Paris, 14, and her brothers, Prince, 15, and Blanket, 10.
In his will, Jackson named only his mother and children as beneficiaries of his estate.
None of Jackson’s three children, nor his parents, signed the letter to the lawyers. Neither did siblings LaToya, Jackie and Marlon.
Instead, Paris took to Twitter to challenge her letter-writing aunts and uncles.
“I will defend my beloved family members with all I have, even if it means from other family members,” she tweeted. “I am going to clarify right now that what has been said about my grandmother is a rumor. … She is completely fine.”
She directly took her uncle Randy to task, adding, “I don’t appreciate you telling everyone things that aren’t true. Maybe he should have respect for his mother.” Paris Jackson later deleted that tweet.
Branca and McClain denied any wrongdoing and called the accusations by Jackson’s siblings baseless.
“Any doubts about the validity of Michael’s will and his selection of executors were thoroughly and completely debunked two years ago when a challenge [by the siblings] was rejected by the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the California Court of Appeals and, finally, the California Supreme Court,” the lawyers said in a statement Thursday.
“We are saddened that false and defamatory accusations grounded in stale Internet conspiracy theories are now being made by certain members of Michael’s family whom he chose to leave out of his will,” the lawyers said.
Sources close to TheUrbanDaily have confirmed that rapper Ms. Melodie, (born Ramona Parker) has died. Ms. Melodie was the ex-wife of rapper KRS-ONE and was a member of Boogie Down Productions.
Ms. Melodie released her first single in 1988 called “Hype According to Ms. Melodie” and one album, Diva in 1989 on Jive Records. Her video “Live On Stage” was one of her biggest hits and she made a memorable appearance on the 1989 single “Self Destruction” and has a cameo in Queen Latifah’s video “Ladies First.”
Singer Monifah expressed her condolences on Twitter:
MONIFAH
✔
@THEMONIFAH
RIP Miss Melody. Please keep her children, family & loved ones in ur prayers. #HipHopRoyalty
18 Jul 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Ms Melodie was a native of Brooklyn, NY and is survived by two sons. There is no cause of death known at this time, but we will have more on this story as it develops.
BG, a rapper that helped build Cash Money Records, was sentenced to 14 years for possessing a firearm, conspiring to obstruct justice and other changes/
BG, Christopher Dorsey. was sentenced on Wednesday in New Orleans by U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan. Judge Berrigan also gave BG three years of supervised release at the end of his jail terms.
The 28-year-old rapper pleaded guilty in December to the charges, which stem from a 2009 arrest. BG, a felon, was convicted on three other felonious charges from 1998 to 1998.
Jerod Fedison and Demounde Pollard were also sentenced to prison time for their role in the case.
BG was a marquee artist with Cash Money Records and coined the term “bling bling,” which represented excessive jewelry. #GAWN
Geraldo Rivera just doesn’t know when to quit. The TV personality made headlines months ago when he claimed Trayvon Martin was killed because of his hoodie not because of his race. Now, Rivera is standing by his statement, reports The Root.
Rivera appeared on Fox News on Friday to discuss Chicago’s rising murder rate. He claims that some of the city’s homicides occurred because victims wore “thug wear.”
He went on to say, “I was right about the hoodie wasn’t I. I hate to brag but I got criticized by every pundit in America when I said Trayvon Martin would be alive but for the fact that he was wearing thug wear… he was was wearing the hoodie. Turns out now that we look at George Zimmerman’s interviews with the police; he didn’t profile Trayvon Martin because he was Black, he profiled him because he was wearing a hoodie… he was a strange kid wearing the same garb like other perpetrators of house break-ins in this community.”
Multi-platinum rapper Young Buck was sentenced Friday to three years in prison after he was convicted on weapons charges.
Young Buck, a Nashville native whose real name is David Darnell Brown, was arrested for possessing weapons despite being a convicted felon following a stabbing several years prior.
The judge sentenced the rapper to serve his two counts concurrently, so he will spend a total of 18 months in jail.
"With the judge not considering my history to subtract some time, I'm just thankful for what time I do have," Young Buck said.
Young Buck is also involved in a bankruptcy case after a contract dispute with record label G-Unit Records. Numerous pieces of gold and diamond jewelry once owned by the rapper will be auctioned by the IRS on July 26.
"I've had some rough times. I've been fighting the bankruptcy situation, and there were some court situations," he said.
In December, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Nashville converted the rapper's bankruptcy case from a Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation. The trustee administering his estate said she planned to sell the trademarked "Young Buck" name along with other assets seized for non-payment.
Creditors submitted claims totaling $11.5 million, including $10 million that the label G-Unit Records said Young Buck owed them.
Other items to be sold at the auction include a diamond necklace, a Breitling Bentley watch, recording studio equipment, art work, televisions and a Tennessee Titans refrigerated soda machine.
An inventory of the auction items and photographs can be viewed at: IRS Auction - Sales Ad for Nashville, TN.
In March, Young Buck's girlfriend was grazed by a bullet while riding in a vehicle driven by the rapper. Police said the shooting took place after the couple was involved in a heated argument with other people at the night club La Bamba in south Nashville.
Friday, the judge said Young Buck must remain off drugs and will be subject to court-ordered supervision for three years after his release.
"My pride is through the roof. My head is held high, and I'm just looking to get all this behind me," Young Buck said. #GAWN
Rappers need to get their lives together, because the feds don't play. Compton rapper, Guerilla Black, born Charles Williamson, was arrested Thursday (July 12) on charges of credit card fraud.
U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan announced that the 33-year-old, known for his vocal likeness to the Notorious B.I.G., was taken into custody on a 22-count indictment from the Western District of Washington.
Black is accused of purchasing the stolen cards which were retrieved by hacking into computer systems, in two Seattle area business establishments.
“Today's arrest shows that criminals cannot hide in cyberspace. We will prosecute all parts of the criminal gang – regardless of where they may be,” said Drukan. “I commend the cyber investigators of the Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force for making sure that all the participants — from the hackers to the end purchasers of stolen data — are held accountable.”
Aside from Black, 22-year-old David Benjamin Schrooten of the Netherlands, and Christopher A. Schroebel, 21, of Keedysville, Maryland, were named as co-conspirators and have been indicted and arrested for hacking into computers to obtain the credit card information.
An investigation concluded that customers had their credit car information stolen within minutes of making purchases at a local restaurant and a supply company. Black communicated with his cohorts via email, requesting to purchase “dumps” of stolen cards in “bulk.” Clearly very picky about his criminal activity, Black indicated that he wanted “freshly stolen” numbers to make it harder for customers to realize what was going on.
The list of charges he faces include conspiracy to access protected computers to further fraud, two counts of accessing a protected computer without authorization to further fraud, and six counts of access device fraud.
Missy Elliott is taking a car dealership to court over failing to deliver a Lamborghini for which she had previously paid.
Buying a car has never been an easy process, but it looks like Missy Elliott's recent car shopping experience proved more problematic than the average. In a recent report from TMZ, the Virginia raptress is apparently suing an Illinois car dealership over a recently purchased Lamborghini.
The lawsuit claims that Elliot purchased a white 2012 Lamborghini Aventador from the Illnois-based Fox Valley Motor Cars. She agreed to make a down payment of $30,000 cash and her $85,000 2005 Bentley for the new vehicle with the stipulation that the dealership deliver the vehicle by mid-2012.
Now, however, Elliott claims that Fox Valley Motor Cars has breached their agreed upon contract and refuses to deliver the automobile. The auto dealer says that they won't hand over the car at the indicated sale price because the market value of the car has increased.
Missy Elliott is suing for possession of the vehicle and damages from the breach of contract. DX will keep you updated as more information comes to light.
Former Roc-A-Fella Records rapper Beanie Sigel's fate in a hefty tax fraud case will be known within 24 hours as he prepares for a scheduled court appearance.
According to reports, federal prosecutors are aiming to have Beans behind bars for three years.
This is what will make news in Philadelphia this week: COURTS Slammer for Beanie Sigel? Sentencing is scheduled for rapper Beanie Sigel, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to failing to file federal income-tax returns for 2003 to 2005. Federal prosecutors are seeking the maximum allowable sentence, which is three years. Sigel, whose actual name is Dwight Grant, earned in excess of $1 million in net income those years and owes approximately $348,077 in taxes, prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum. He paid no taxes during those years. (Philly)
Prior to rescheduling, Sigel was previously slated to get sentenced in April.
A sentencing hearing on federal tax charges for rapper Beanie Sigel was postponed Thursday. Defense attorneys Fortunato Perri Jr. and Mark Cedrone told U.S. District Judge Jan DuBois on Wednesday that Sigel had not provided the financial information a probation officer requested or allowed a home visit by the officer. DuBois rescheduled sentencing for July 12. (Philly Tablet)
Initial reports claimed Beans faced up to 36 months in jail.
Sigel, whose real name is Dwight Grant, is awaiting sentencing for failing to file income taxes for tax years 2003, 2004 and 2005. Federal prosecutors are seeking the maximum sentence of three years. Sigel, 38, pleaded guilty to the charges in August. He is expected in federal district court for a status hearing Thursday. A government plea memo said that Sigel owes about $348,000 in taxes on net income of more than $1 million in the three years. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Last August, the Philadelphia rapper confessed to not filing taxes in the mid-2000's.
Sigel entered his plea Tuesday in federal court in Philadelphia.U.S. prosecutors say he owes about $350,000 on $1 million of unreported income. But defense lawyer Fortunato Perri Jr. plans to challenge those calculations.
Rapper Lord Finesse says in a $10 million lawsuit that 20-year-old rap star Mac Miller ripped off his 1995 hit “Hip 2 Da Game” to launch his music career. In 1995, Finesse released his hit song “Hip 2 Da Game,” which is the subject of his lawsuit against Mac Miller in federal court in Manhattan. “This is a case about a teenage rapper- Mac Miller- copying the music from a song written, produced and performed by Lord Finesse, a hip hop legend, changing the title and then distributing it under his own name in order to launch his music career,” the complaint states. Mac Miller released his version of “Hip 2 Da Game” on a “mix tapes,” a term used to describe free music distributed by up-and-coming rappers.
The $10 million lawsuit alleges copyright infringement, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, interference, deceptive trade practices, and a number of related state law claims. Finesse also seeks a permanent injunction from the court.
