andPOP » Hip Hop/Rap

Lil Wayne Is Not a Celebrity in Jail

andPOP Staff — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:26:33 +0000

Lil Wayne is not getting any special treatment in jail, and is not considered a celebrity. TMZ has learned that the star has been instructed by prison officials not to sign a single autograph while in jail.

A prison representative told TMZ that Lil Wayne has not asked for anything out of the ordinary, and is serving a standard prison sentence. Weezy is serving a year long sentence for gun charges at Rikers Island in New York.

Chris Brown’s Desperate Message to Fans

Angelina Irinici — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:18:24 +0000

Chris Brown is going downhill and has taken desperate measures. According to MTV News, after Brown’s dwindling sales from his new album, Graffiti, he has issued a message to his fans this week. The message asked to help revive his music career since he pleaded guilty to felony assault on Rihanna last year.

SayNow.com is a site that allows people to share recorded messages. Brown allegedly said it is hard to promote his new album since radio stations are not playing his songs. In an earlier message, he asked fans to keep in touch with him while on tour by dialing a special 877 number.

A spokeperson for the 20-year-old singer did not respond to MTV News’ request for comment, nor had confirmed the messages are definitely Brown.

In a message uploaded Wednesday morning, Brown asks fans for their help. “Hey, what’s up, y’all? CB. I ain’t never really did this but right now I’m just calling ya’ll, I need all of my fans’ help,” he said in the 90-second clip. “I need all the fans that I have, I need y’all’s help. It’s crazy because a lot of radio stations … some radio stations aren’t playing my records. They’re not being that supportive and I wouldn’t expect them to.”

He stressed how important his fans are to him, and without them he seems a bit on his own.

“It’s on the fans and what you guys do [whatever is] in y’all power to bring me back because that’s all I need, is you guys,” Brown continued. “Nothing else will do that except for the fans. There’s nothing else that I can do. I’m doing everything that I need to do. I’m doing me as a person and I’m a better guy. But it’s on y’all.

“My singing and my music is all great, but I do it for you guys and everything else but it won’t be possible if I’m not relevant on the radio and it won’t be possible for me to be an artist if I don’t have any support from people that give me an artists outlet. I can’t be an underground mixtape artist!” he laughed. “I just want all my fans to help me. I love y’all. Peace.”

The R&B singer’s album Graffiti was released in December and hasn’t gained much positive feedback. Singles include: “I Can Transform Ya,””Crawl” and “Sing Like Me,” however “Transform Ya” is the only single getting radio play. The album sales are at just over 250,000 copies, not so good for Brown since his last album, Exclusive, sold nearly 2 million copies.

Seems that Brown is doing just about anything he can for his fans as he had a small “Fan Appreciation” tour that ran from October through December. He played in modest theatres that were a lot smaller than arenas he used to play in when he was on tour with Bow Wow.

Back in November a number of radio programmers told MTV News that they weren’t afraid to play Brown’s songs in lieu of the issues with previous girlfriend, Rihanna.

“Transform Ya” got plenty of play and was popular among fans, however programmers have started to cut back on his music. As of now, Brwn does not have any songs in the top 50 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

Diddy Throws Notorious B.I.G. Party; Advocates National Holiday

Graham Slaughter — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:17:25 +0000

According to Diddy, the late Notorious B.I.G. deserves his own national holiday – and he’s making it happen.

Last night, Diddy rounded up hiphop artists Rick Ross, Fabolous, Red Café and Busta Rhymes to throw a memorial party for the iconic rap star, reports MTV.

B.I.G., who died on March 9, 1997, was commemorated through performances in his home of Brooklyn, N.Y..

“Basically, me and Diddy had conversations about doing this a couple of months ago,” says Brooklyn DJ Mister Cee, an old friend of Biggie’s. “I said, ‘Diddy, you been running around all over the place. When are you gonna do something in Brooklyn?’ He said, ‘OK, let’s do something in Brooklyn.’ We wanted to do it for the memory of Big and also for Brooklyn.”

The party, which took place in Brooklyn hotspot The Lab, was kicked off with Diddy in the DJ booth while Mister Cee spun some of Biggie’s classic tracks.

Soon after, Diddy took to the stage to rap some classic lines from his days as Puffy.

“We’re here to show him love,” bellowed Diddy to the packed club. “We wanna thank you, Brooklyn, because Brooklyn made the greatest rapper of all time!”

The night’s performances were dominated by some of Biggie’s classic songs: ”Playa Hata,” “Warning,” and “Mo Money, Mo Problems.”

At the end of the night, Busta Rhymes spoke with MTV outside the club.

“I got so many beautiful supporters of B.I.G. around me. It’s a honor to experience a moment. For the first time in the 13 years since the great man’s passing, we can experience a moment when you got Red Café on the stage, Diddy on the stage, Busta Rhymes on the stage, Fabolous on the stage, Rick Ross on the stage…The moment felt so golden.”

Will Notorious B.I.G. be honoured with his own holiday? Whatever the answer turns out to be, fans can expect rappers like Diddy and Busta Rhymes to keep his memory and music alive.

DMX Arrested…Again

andPOP Staff — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:41:32 +0000

DMX (aka Earl Simmons) was arrested earlier today in Arizona (yes this is hardly news as it seems DMX gets arrested daily). TMZ reports that the rapper violated the terms of his probation by using illegal drugs from the past nine months.

His lawyer Gary Jenkins says “He’s been battling addiction for some time and he’s in need of treatment.” Additionally his lawyer commented that DMX needs serious help, potentially from somebody like celebrity therapist Dr. Drew Pinsky.

Beastie Boys Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch Beats Cancer

Sara Harowitz — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:16:30 +0000

Beastie Boys rapper Adam “MCA” Yauch, who was diagnosed with a salivary gland tumor last year, is on his way to a full recovery, according to perezhilton.com.

For some icing on the cake, the band is also reportedly going to start working on their new album, Hot Sauce Committee, Part 1, again, which was indefinitely postponed after Yauch was diagnosed.

Yauch said: “I feel better. It was touch and go there for a while, but I am finally getting my energy back. It was really disappointing to have to hold the record and postpone the tour, but doctor’s orders. We may or may not [release the album] depending on how my health is come September. We want to but we have to play it by ear. I was just talking to Adam [Horovitz] and Mike [D] today on the phone and we were talking about working on it a bit. We finished the record over a year ago, so we want to take a look at it and re-evaluate and make sure it is what we want to put out there and that we are still happy with it. I don’t think we will change it up too much.”

R&B Star, D’Angelo, Allegedly Asked for $40 Blow Job

Sam Rashid — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:12:41 +0000

D’Angelo, R&B star, was looking for some mouth love but ended up getting booked by an undercover cop, reports CHARTattack.

D’Angelo, best known for his video “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” where he appears completely naked, allegedly asked a woman for a $40 blow job.

The woman to provide the $40 dollar mouth love was an undercover cop, and arrested D’Angelo on the spot, charging him with solicitation.

Later, when searching D’Angelo’s car (real name Michael Archer), police found $12,000. So, there was a lowball definitely going on, with that $40 offer.

Now, D’Angelo has been released from jail.

The R&B star has since pleaded not guilty to the solicitation charges and plans to contest the allegations made against him, according to a recent post on his MySpace.

D’Angelo has been working on a follow-up record to his 2000’s Voodoo, but has had minimal success because of legal problems occurring over the past couple of years. The new record is expected to be released sometime this summer. But then again, who really knows.

Lil Wayne Starts Prison Sentence

andPOP Staff — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:12:52 +0000

After delays that included a fire and a dental emergency, Lil Wayne is finally of to jail. The rapper will begin his one year prison sentence starting today stemming from a 2007 gun arrest.

In the past few weeks, Lil Wayne has been working in overdrive to clean up some loose ends. These delays have allowed him to complete some music videos and songs in order to continue airplay during his prison stint.

MTV News spoke with a New York State corrections officer about how Lil Wayne will be housed.

“He’ll be housed with inmates who are classified in his category, and he’ll be able to be a regular inmate,” the guard said. “He’ll be able to watch television, go into the day room and congregate with people of his classification.

“He’ll have no preferable treatment at all. He’ll be treated like a regular inmate,” the guard, who declined to be identified due to the classified information he discussed, added.

Wale Interview – Thanks White Guys!

Jordan Bortolotti — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:11:04 +0000

Here is a little trivia about hip-hop. What is the largest demographic consuming hip-hop music? You ready? White guys aged 15-35. That’s the people keeping Wale in business. Jordan spoke to Wale about that and more during a recent stop in Toronto.

Suge Knight Owes The I.R.S.

andPOP Staff — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:51:00 +0000

What a fall from grace! As previously reported on andPOP Radio, Suge Knight owes the I.R.S. some big money.

TMZ reports that the I.R.S. wants over $6 Million from the rap producer. $6,578,696.31 actually to be exact.

Additionally child support documents filed by the mother of Suge Knight’s kid indicate that the rapper only makes $1,207 a Month. This could be a problem!

Rapper J-Kwon has Gone Missing

Angelina Irinici — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:16:40 +0000

Rapper J-Kwon has gone missing, and we don’t mean from record sales. E! reported that the “Tipsy” rapper hasn’t been seen in almost a month, even his record label, Gracie Productions, has no clue of his whereabouts. The label has been asking fans for help in finding the rapper, including setting up a Twitter page, @WhereisJKwon, asking anyone for information or sightings.

“J-Kwon is a big part of the Gracie family, and we are obviously increasingly worried and want to make sure he is OK,” Gracie Productions CEO and President Tony Bucher said.

Fans are worried and have showed their support, but the label is still unaware of where or how to contact the 23-year-old rapper.

“We’ve already received thousands of emails from fans and supporters who are worried about J-Kwon, and we want everyone to know how much we appreciate the love and support,” Bucher said. “If anyone has seen J-Kwon or has access to him, please let him know we are worried about him, and to please let us know everything is OK.”

Originally from St. Louis, J-Kwon’s real name is Jarrel Jones and was last thought to be working in the studio on his fourth release, a self-titled CD.

Gracie Productions is based out of St. Louis and Noblesville, Ind. where authorities were not aware of his disappearance, nor had anyone reported him missing, but are now looking into the situation.

“We have no record of that name,” Bruce Barnes, spokesman for the Noblesville Police Department, tells E! News.

You may remember J-Kwon’s first hit that lead to stardom, a club track called “Tipsy.” He had lyrics that started with “teen drinking is very bad. Yo, I got a fake ID though.” Makes sense, as J-Kwon had a troubled background growing up. He was 12 years of age when he was expelled from home, which lead to homelessness and drug dealing. He scored an audition with former Arista mogul Antonio “L.A.” and rapper Jermaine Dupri, which got him out of streets and onto a record label.

Although his first album Hood Hop, released in 2004, was a success, the star faded away and was almost forgotten. He released follow-ups; Hood Hop 2 in 2008 and Hood Hop 2.5 last year, both resulting in poor record sales.