Earlier this afternoon, 50 Cent released a “Public Service Announcement” via his website to speak on the lack of support his Street King campaign has received to date. The latest initiative, his 1 Like = 1 Meal campaign where every “Like” on Street King’s Facebook page feeds a hungry child has only received 300,000 “Likes.” The goal of reaching 1 million seems unlikely as there’s only 2 days left in the 7-day campaign.

Read 50’s PSA after the jump…..

(more…)

In today’s New York Times Style section, music industry mogul Steve Stoute took the liberty of taking out a full page ad to voice his displeasure with the NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) over the Grammy’s shutting out more popular artists to lesser unknowns in some of their big categories. This falls on the heels of last week’s 53rd annual Grammy Awards where artists such as Justin Bieber, Drake and most notably Eminem, lost out on wins such as Best New Artist & Album of The Year to less popular artists like Esperanza Spalding and Arcade Fire. In the past, artists like Kanye West and 50 Cent have experienced the same shut out for categories in which the masses felt they were clear cut favorites to win.

Over the course of my 20-year history as an executive in the music business and as the owner of a firm that specializes in in-culture advertising, I have come to the conclusion that the Grammy Awards have clearly lost touch with contemporary popular culture. My being a music fan has left me with an even greater and deeper sense of dismay — so much so that I feel compelled to write this letter. Where I think that the Grammys fail stems from two key sources: (1) over-zealousness to produce a popular show that is at odds with its own system of voting and (2) fundamental disrespect of cultural shifts as being viable and artistic.

Props to TheLifeFiles

You can read the full submission from Steve Stoute, after the jump….

(more…)

In an interview with Pyramid West (posted after the jump), Craig Davis, urban promotions director at Capitol Records, runs down his entire career biography….but then he gets to more current topics, and says that 50 Cent is now signed to Capitol/EMI along with Lloyd Banks.

“We got a really great roster…we just signed the 50 Cent deal over [at Capitol]….50 felt he needed to get out of the Interscope machine. He wanted to do a new change. So he got his release from there. We’re in negotiations with him, the deal just got signed very recently…and um, we got 50 Cent on our label. I think we’re gonna probably have Lloyd Banks as the first cut, and then 50’s gonna come out later on….”

Wow, Craig Davis! This is big news! Except….that it’s not true.
When I asked an insider if 50 Cent was now on Capitol/EMI….the answer was: “Hell no.“

Well, damn *GucciMane voice*

Now we all know that Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo are indie right now, but as far as the big guy is concerned, he’s still fully in contract with Shady/Aftermath/Interscope, and still has a greatest hits album to release. But even beyond that…sources say he was not in talks to sign to Capitol himself.

This moment is better represented in song…
(more…)

Wow…this is no small gaffe on the part of the Associated Press. They reported that T.I. would have 305 days of house arrest credited to his prison term, so in effect, T.I. was looking at just 2 months in prison, instead of 1 year and 1 day.
Obviously,that sounded like a dream come true for someone convicted of having so many firearms (and with a prior record). And there were a lot of virulent responses from youse guys on the prior post.

But MTV News’ Gil Kaufman has cleared up the misunderstanding….The house arrest credit only applies to T.I.’s future house arrest requirement after he is released from Arkansas’ Forrest City Club Fed.

So even with good behavior, T.I. is only eligible for 55 days reduction from his sentence. He will most likely do at least 10+ months in prison.

Good catch, Gil!

MTV News explains:

“When The Associated Press reported on Sunday that T.I. — due to report to the Forrest City low-security federal prison in Little Rock, Arkansas, on May 26 — had been given credit for 305 days of home detention, “so his stay at Forrest City prison will likely be only two months,” the news agency may have misread the sentencing report. The story has since spread on the Internet, but according to Charysse Alexander, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, it is not accurate.

According to Alexander, the rapper was indeed given credit for the 305 days of home confinement he served while awaiting trial in the case, but that has nothing to do with his prison sentence…..

more after the jump…

(more…)

So today on The Celebrity Drama Report, we worked out some of the details on who is this woman who has birthed the crown prince of the Carter III.

Celebrity Drama 10/22/08 part 1:
CD WED 1 8PM 102208.mp3

Celebrity Drama 10/22/08 part 2:
CD WED 2 9PM 102208.mp3

In the previous post, we learned that Sarah is a young Vietnamese/Caucasian Ohio resident, who splits her time between the University of Cincinnati and working as the mall as a nail tech. There are reports of Weezy/Mrs. Carter tattoos, and proud pregnancy photos on a now defunct myspace page. But what does the mother of the newborn Tiger Woods of rap look like?

Here is a glimpse of the elusive “Sarah” from Necole Bitchie. Read more of Necole’s take on Sarah-Gate here and on Stylerazzi.

After the jump, another photo…..

UPDATED: more photos of the real Weezy F. Baby mama

(more…)

All of New York City (and the connected hip hop universe beyond as well) is on fire because of a song that was sent to my co-worker DJ Kay Slay tonite. The song starts with Uncle Murda, and then Hov comes in and says this:

“Gangsta, Gangsta, how you wanna do this? I clap n—as down for yappin’ all foolish, ain’t no stopping this Roc-a-fella movement. The name is Jay Guevera, homie, who are you? and, if your off-beat DJ, anything he play sound familiar? I’ll wait ’til Pharell say, “Play ‘em.”**

Now I’mma have to diss you, Joe. You can get a smack for that, matter fact, the gats will blow….your toy squad will get squashed, Boy–yard dee, you’re lost in the sauce partly because your boss ain’t a leader. He’s a follower. No, I’m not coppin’ ya album or your single, most likely you’ll go copper…”

(**using Pharrell’s own voice)

“He Asked For It” by Uncle Murda, feat. Jay-Z (from thisis50)

he asked for it f uncle murder.mp3

The song is hot. The beat is fire, the Brand Nubian hook is crazy, Murda’s verse is hard, and of course Hov’s verse is classic, vintage, gully Hov.

Maybe because it’s exactly that…..vintage.

ACCORDING TO [EDIT: AN INSIDE SOURCE]:

THAT’S A FREESTYLE OFF A MIXTAPE FROM AROUND 5 YEARS AGO. MIGHT HAVE BEEN AROUND THE TIME OF S.CARTER [The sneaker and mixtape]. AND DJ KHALED WAS NOT ADDRESSED IN THE VERSE AT ALL.

And thankfully, Just Blaze has also stepped in with his voice of reason….

“So for some reason people think this “new” Jay/Uncle Murda thing is a Fat Joe Khaled dis. It’s not. It’s also like 8000 years old and somehow dude got his hands on it and put a verse on it. Now that I recall, it’s Blueprint 2 era..I was going to use this verse for the S.Carter Remix CD but we couldn’t get the Pro Tools in time. Don’t fall for the okeydoke.”

So who is trying to use Jay-Z’s status, reignite an old beef with Fat Joe, and create a non-existant beef with DJ Khaled?

Either someone who is super thirsty to heat up their career. Or someone who is super thirsty to get at Fat Joe.

Either way, that s—t is fraudulent and wack.

More analysis after the jump….

(more…)

here’s the thing, folks.

If you’re soft like bone marrow**, then don’t be going up to the guy in the room from Brooklyn, talking that fly s–t about, “yo, I heard you was talking reckless about me!”

Especially when he’s the guy who did the yard in the pen.

Especially especially when you just lost weight on that involuntary Detroit diet we all heard about.

Just doesn’t seem like that’s the right time/place to try to make a movie.

But look on the bright side, yung man….it could have been worse. Luckily, the big guy didnt bother with your replacement sparkles. And luckily….when you covered up after the first serve, you avoided the backhand.

**and no, this person’s steez is not representative of ATL or his hometown.

…and that makes me feel better. But only slightly.

Ok, Jay….how bout I explain it this way….

Your life of being careful and frugal will now benefit those who were reckless and exorbitant.

back in the day, the government bought out 225 billion dollars in bad loans. They were later able to sell them…..for 140 billion.

um. $85 billion dollar loss. Not really a good thing.

(this time around….it’ll be way worse)

 The players: Ye=Kanye, DC=Kanye’s manager Don C., Pap1=Photographer 1, Pap2=Cameraman, Lady1=airport employee in grey, Lady2= lady in black, etc…

Ye: Gimme dat camera! Give a Black man a chance… to walk past all the non-Black people waiting in line! I…want…dat…camera. Man!

Pap1: You can’t have it! (Oh s–t, is this really happening?) Give a pap a chance…to make a living walking the line between harassment and photojournalism! Dude!

DC: What’s that guy have, Ye? (Candy? Shoes? Bape? I want some….)

Lady 1: Boarding pass?

Lady 2: (Damn, California gay rights.)

Ye: I got it! Don, this dude got exclusive photos of Kanye West! I’mma post them on Kanyeuniversecity. Firrsst, Bitches! (….wait a minute.)

DC: (damn, it’s not Bape) Ok, gimme the hand off…meet you in the Premier Lounge. Wi-fi!

Pap1: Oww, my hand! (Doesn’t he get photographed all the time?… the Skycap told me Kanye West was here….is this not Kanye West? Designer bag? Check. Bling? No!…uh oh.)

Lady 1: No, that’s not your boarding pass.

Lady 2: (Oh, wait, they’re not gay. They’re rappers. No, thank you. I’ll just wait over here.)

(more after the jump)

(more…)

thank you to Jmack and the fellas of HoodHype for a nice audio interview with the homie Joe Budden. Lol, oh, Joe….the freedom of not owing anyone must be so refreshing, lol.

hoodhype-joebudden080208.mp3

“I feel like Nas touched on the whole hip hop is dead thing, but when he did, it was just an empty statement from him, he never stood firm on why that was the case or how you can fix it or who is responsible….and me being an unsigned artist and not giving a f–k about what anyone thinks about what I’m saying….I figured I was the perfect person to deal with it.”

“I can’t find anybody who can tell me how many albums ‘Reasonable Doubt’ sold its first week.”

“‘Padded Room’ is like Mood Musik’s cousin…I dont think there’s more than 3 punchlines or metaphors or similes on there….I’m my only competition at this point…”

Padded Room, Sept. 30 : )