What an awful low point to end 2011 with….Police in Atlanta are still trying to track down the man who shot and killed Bricksquad rapper Slim Dunkin this past Friday. Slim had just recently shot a video with his longtime friend Waka Flocka, Jadakiss and Styles P, and he was featured on Gucci Mane and V-Nasty’s BAYTL EP. But the events leading up to his death are increasingly disturbing.
According to homicide detective, David Quinn:

“The victim, Mario Hamilton, known as Slim Dunkin,….according to witnesses, someone came into this room, struck him and a fight ensued. The information we’re getting, it’s unconfirmed, but witnesses are saying this whole thing started over a piece of candy….“

It’s naive to reduce the entire motive to candy. Obviously, this is about pride, jealousy, possession, posturing in front of others, and so many other machismo elements that cause trivial things to spark unthinkable violence.
But for a piece of candy to be the catalyst for hate like this…in a studio filled with folks who could have stepped in with voices of reason (or how about stepping up in the past 4 days with information?!)….just every thing about this is a disgusting shameful tragedy.

If you know anything helpful, call Atlanta’s crimestoppers 1-404-577-TIPS (8477)

More on the ongoing investigation into Slim Dunkin’s death…
And his public viewing…
After the jump
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Michael Jackson’s personal doctor Dr. Conrad Murray (a heart doctor turned bedside sleepy-time fairy dust distributor) has been found guilty of the “involuntary manslaughter” of the King of Pop in June, 2009. According to USA Today, one of the gazillions of news outlets who covered this two month trial:

‘[Prosecutor David Walgren] said Murray caused Jackson’s death through acts of “criminal negligence” in using a hospital-grade drug for insomnia in Jackson’s home without proper monitoring and resuscitation equipment. Murray also acted negligently in delaying 20 minutes before calling 911, attempting CPR incompetently and failing to tell rescue personnel he had used propofol, Walgren said.

A negligent failure to act can be involuntary manslaughter under California law. Walgren adopted this theory, too, saying Murray had failed to fulfill a doctor’s legal duty to care for a patient.

According to reports, Murray will serve time in a county jail, but it will be around half of his actual sentence. He faces up to 4 years, but Harvey Levin of TMZ speculates that at the end of the day, Murray will end up on house arrest. (Not surprising since Lindsay Lohan just served 4.5 hours of her 30 day sentence last night. ) The judge specified that none of the jurors are allowed to get paid or “benefit” from speaking about the trial for 90 days.

Clearly this doctor’s ineptitude and um….elastic code of conduct, contributed to the death of Michael Jackson. But it also seems to me that all the people around MJ, and MJ’s own decisions played an important part in enabling Jackson’s ridiculous lifestyle, and in giving Murray so much responsibility in his world.

oh. my. god!! HAHAAA. I’ve literally kept my TV on all day just to get giggles every time they replay that Herman Cain news clip….the one where GOP frontrunner/pizza-exec/999-er Cain gets ambushed by reporters who want him to comment on the three women who have stepped forward to accuse him of inappropriate sexual advances.
Must See TV: Cain’s struggle to spazz out on the reporters all while trying to maintain his creepy jello grin….so awesome. And so are his comments:

“Don’t even bother asking me about all these other questions that y’all are curious about….what did I say!….excuse me…EGGS-SCUSE ME!“

But wait….what was that I heard? Let me rewind that….HA!! Pay attention at the 0:35 mark:

“Rick Ross…the rapper Rick Ross…had a seizure…do you have any….on seizures??….(1:06) Sir, can you help Rick Ross out??“

*crying*

Watch Jon Stewart’s take on Herman’s calamity…After the jump
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Grand Theft Auto V is going back to Cali….er, “San Andreas”. I can’t believe it’s been over 3 years since Rockstar Games blanketed us with Grand Theft Auto IV promotion….and if you remember, since that game was set in an almost-real New York City (aka Liberty City), we got everything from customized Mr. Cee radio stations, to exclusive Busta Rhymes x Green Lantern tracks, to inter-borough multi-ethnic crime sprees. Good times.

This morning, Rockstar dropped the trailer for GTA V, confirming that the endless driving missions and salty dialogue is going back to Los Angeles, California (aka Los Santos, San Andreas). In the brief clip, you see the LA smog, the skid-row homeless, some warm fuzzy crop-dusting over migrant workers, the Venice boardwalk, and, of course, some celeb-hiking up in Runyon Canyon. (But what’s with the oil rig? Is there black gold hidden in the Hollywood Hills? UPDATE: Holy crap! Thanks Jazzbeezy.) Oh and if you don’t already know from in GTA, the Hollywood sign says Vinewood, which sounds decidedly less glamorous)

I definitely enjoyed the insanely detailed gameplay in GTA IV, but something about driving and mission-based videogames gets tedious to me. I can’t wait to see all the extra music, video, and web content that is sure to come with this new edition though. That’s definitely where Rockstar shines.

Do you think they’ll have Pac Div, Lil B’ radio stations? I predict lots of paparazzi chase scenes, and a full TMZ-branded news ticker.

A short recap of the Grand Theft Auto series..
After the jump
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(Jim Jones, post-”altercation“, looking grumpy but uninjured)

Listen to my Celebrity Drama Report on the incident…
After the jump
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Let’s try this again….According to TMZ, T.I. has been re-released from the Tennessee federal prison and moved back to an Atlanta halfway house. If you remember, Tip got out on Aug. 31 with some fanfare which may have contributed to him being taken right back into custody just 2 days later. At first there were reports that officials were upset he traveled in a tour bus instead of a van. Later, they said he violated rules by having 2 VH1 producers on the bus because he’s not allowed to conduct business. But today…

T.I.’s lawyer, Steve Sadow: “We have good reason to believe that this favorable result was reached because of the proactive and assertive approach taken to protect T.I.’s rights by providing B.O.P. officials and the media with reliable and accurate information and that T.I. did not intend to violate his transfer furlough or any other B.O.P. rules en route from the prison facility in Arkansas to the halfway house in Atlanta.”

Translation: They talked some sense into those prison officials, convincing them T.I. did not work on his upcoming VH1 series on the bus, and that he had been wrongly remanded back to prison. He’ll be at the halfway house until Sept. 29, and then on probation for another year.

Related:
T.I. Set To Release “Power & Beauty” Novel This Fall
T.I. Back In Federal Custody, Moved To ‘Undisclosed Facility’ For Using Tour Bus
T.I.’s First Photos Right After His Prison Release
T.I. Writes His Final Prison Letter: “I’m Going All The Way Back to…I’M SERIOUS, TRAP MUZIK”

TMZ reports that Big Boi was arrested earlier today (Sunday August 7th) on charges of drug possession. The Outkast member was found with controlled substances listed as Viagra, ecstasy pills, MDMA powder and drug paraphernalia.  Miami-Dade County Corrections Department have charged him with with three counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. The arrest happened as Big Boi was leaving a cruise ship and got searched by by customs and border patrol dogs. Bond has been set at $16,000.

UPDATE: Right as this goes through, Big Boi is free. And his lawyer released a statement of innocence:

“While BIG BOI was traveling with his group and friends, a small amount of contraband was found in the collective luggage. I am confident when the entire facts are aired BIG BOI will be completely exonerated.” -Daniel Kane Attorney for Antwan Patton p/f/a BIG BOI.

MissInfo: Here’s another update, and yes I’m being totally biased. Big Boi may or may not be proven guilty. I hope for his sake, he’s found innocent. I don’t care if a grown man wants to go on vacation with his wife and kids, and in the course of floating out in the ocean….decides to take the listed substances. I realize that MDMA/ecstacy can be addictive in around half of its users, and has caused death in rare instances, but most adults who use it just take it for recreation. As for viagra….so friggin’ what? Arrests like this, and especially all the random rapper weed arrests that happen every other day….aren’t interesting to me because they hardly inform us about anything new or surprising about the artist’s behavior or character. I don’t condone breaking the law, and I know any drug use can lead to abuse, but if this is the first time Big Boi has ever gotten in trouble then he’s doing well.

Big Boi retained his sense of humor about the reports on his arrest….
Read after the jump…
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(Kanye and Big Sean at the Finally Famous listening in NYC)

Big Sean and his friend, upcoming artist SayItAintTone were accused of “forcibly” touching a woman after a concert in upstate New York. The AP reported:

Rapper Big Sean faces charges in upstate New York after a woman complained she was sexually assaulted during a concert.
State park police charged the 23-year-old Detroit rapper with misdemeanor counts of forcible touching, unlawful imprisonment and sex abuse. Another Detroit man, Willie Hansbro, faces the same charges.
Police received the complaint Thursday night at Artpark State Park in Lewiston, just downriver from Niagara Falls. Anderson was performing there with rapper Wiz Khalifa.
Big Sean and Hansbro were issued appearance tickets and released on $500 bail. They’re scheduled in Niagara County Court on Sept. 6.

After reaching out to Big Sean’s team, his lawyer Scott E. Leemon sent over this short statement denying the charges:

Last night, recording artists, Sean “Big Sean” Anderson and Willie “Sayitainttone” Hansbro were arrested and then immediately released by the NY State Police in connection with an allegation made by a female who was at their concert in Lewiston, New York.
Both men were charged with misdemeanors and they both vehemently deny the allegations.
I am confident, that after further investigation, both men will be vindicated.

In more lighthearted Big Sean news…he recently sat down with Complex’s Andre Jones and named his fashion influencers, and surprisingly, Kanye is really his first choice…
After the jump…
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damn shame.
Buju Banton (real name: Mark Myrie) was sentenced to 10 years in a Federal prison today in Tampa, Florida, on charges of “conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense and using a telephone to facilitate a drug trafficking offense.”

The judge dismissed a gun charge that would have added another 5 years to the sentence, but still ignored pleas for leniency from some of some of his 15 children, Stephen Marley, NBA player Etan Thomas, and even Danny Glover, who vouched for Banton as a “role model, philanthropist and spiritual leader in the community.”

If you remember, he was found guilty of those charges just one week after winning a Grammy earlier this year….but the whole thing started back in 2009, when Buju sat next to a man named Alexander Johnson on a flight. Johnson, a career criminal turned paid informant, who hounded Buju for months to connect him with cocaine suppliers. During the trail, Buju insisted that he was just “fronting” to seem street-affiliated:
“You gave (the informant) every reason to believe you were a player in the cocaine game,” [prosecutors] said.
Banton shot back: “We were both trying to impress each other. I was just making things up. I was just talking crap. I talk too much.”

Related:
Buju Banton wins Grammy last week, is found guilty of 2009 cocaine conspiracy this week…Meanwhile, his informant is paid $50,000
Fugitive Mobster James “Whitey” Bulger Captured by FBI After 16 Year Manhunt
Jimmy Henchmen Arrested By Drug Enforcement Agents in Manhattan
The Tupac Quad Studio Confession: Are You Sure You Know Who Shot Pac?

Every part of this long and complicated saga defies comprehension. Since the news broke last week of prison-lifer Dexter Isaac and his Tupac robbery “confession”, I’ve been hearing from OG insiders (both on the media side and the street side) about the infamous social circles that Tupac ran in back in the mid-90’s here in New York City.

Today, one of the most controversial figures in that web, Jimmy Henchman was caught by Feds….but in the oddest way.

Henchmen has been on the run since Drug Enforcement Agents issued a warrant for his arrest in May…in court papers, they accused him of “being the leader of [a drug ring] that distributed hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and generated millions of dollars in sales.” At first it seemed that he was going to turn himself in, but then he disappeared…

Only to be found at the W Hotel right by Union Square in Manhattan? *scratches head*
What kind of low-key hiding place is that?

More details
after the jump…
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