Just days after Lil Wayne rallied a “f*ck the NBA” chant (complete with some allegations about Chris Bosh’s wife), this emerging war of words between rap and the NBA bled over into Washington D.C. last night, where Wale took exception to a few cheeky comments made by Raptors TV announcer Matt Devlin.

Sitting courtside for the Raptors-Wizards game, the MMG rapper was apparently talking trash to the visiting team’s new forward, Rudy Gay. Picking up on the exchange, Devlin — out of comical slander or pure ignorance — introduced the MC to the viewers at home as “local rapper Wall-Aye” and asked if anyone on Twitter had “ever heard of Wall-Aye.” Adding insult to injury, Devlin then remarked, “He’s not Drake, that’s for sure.” (Ether!)

Overhearing Devlin’s comments, Wale tweeted to him directly “watch ur mouth” and shortly after approached the announcers’ table and interrupted the commentary. Hey, at least he didn’t get called will.i.am.

Check out the footage and tweets below…

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Lupe Fiasco found himself in hot water again this weekend for his outspoken political views. Performing in celebration of Obama’s second inauguration at Hamilton Live in Washington D.C. last night (Jan. 20), the Chicago rapper was removed from the stage after playing the first verse from “Words I Never Said,” the anti-war song taken from his 2011 LP, Lasers, for a whole 30 minutes, and declaring that he did not vote for Obama in November’s election. After refusing to perform a different song, Lupe was escorted off stage by security.

Now This News captured footage of Lupe getting kicked off stage, while Foreign Policy journalist Josh Rogin live tweeted the story as it happened. However, the event organizers released a statement claiming Lupe was removed for “other” reasons. Read it here.

Check out the footage and tweets after the jump…

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Today in Connecticut, there is a state-wide day of mourning as more of the child victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are laid to rest. As well as a teacher who died shielding her students. Bells throughout Connecticut are being run 26 times in honor of the 26 lives that were lost. Meanwhile, in a most insensitive display of tackiness, Wayne LaPierre, the head of the National Rifle Association, held a press conference (without any questions) where he blamed gun violence on the media, videogames, music, movies, celebrities, funding for foreign aid, attention to sports, law enforcement, possible hurricanes….and gun-free school zone. Said LaPierre, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun…” *scratches head*

Mayor Bloomberg’s reaction to the NRA speech: “Instead of offering solutions to a problem they have helped create, they offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe.”

Some of music and Hollywood’s biggest stars filmed a PSA to denounce the gun-lobby’s status quo, and demand a change in the approach to gun control here in America. Everyone from Beyonce, Chris Rock, Aziz Ansari, Jeremy Renner, Michelle Williams, Jessica Alba, Jamie Foxx, Carmello Anthony, Victor Cruz, and more appear in the “Demand a Plan” campaign…

Watch the PSA, after the jump
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While Drake has been tweeting about how many times he listened to Chief Keef’s “Love Sosa”…another member of Keef’s crew is getting attention for a different kind of “hit.”

Lil’ Reese…who, along with Lil’ Durk, is one of the more talented members of Keef’s GBE crew…is seen in this shaky cell phone footage arguing with a female at some kind of house party.
After the argument escalates, you see Lil’ Reese poke the young woman. She smacks his hand away. He shoves her. She rushes him in retaliation….and then Reese proceeds to punch and kick her repeatedly even after the girl is prone on the ground, clearly no longer fighting back.

This is not like the infamous uppercut video, where a crazy woman spits on and attacks a bus driver, before he knocks her out. Both the driver and the woman are facing charges.

This is not like the murder of Jo Jo, a 16-year-old aspiring rapper, whose public beef with Chicago rivals, Chief Keef, Lil Reese and Lil Durk was just as much a gang beef as it was a rap one. Keef and Reese mocked the murder on twitter.

It’s not about poverty, or gang culture, or lead-based paint. This is just a demonstration of an inferior human character…and the sign of someone who needs help and punishment.

Be disgusted…
After the jump
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Oh, I know my pals at Complex are kickin’ back with their microbrews and their fancy sneaker-dress shoe hybrids having a good laugh today. They posted another list, this time ranking the “30 Best Rappers In Their 30′s.” And like death and taxes, outrage was imminent.

I’ve saved you some clicking and refreshing, without giving away all the 30 names…
Let’s go over some of the rankings…
And discuss, which rapper do you think is the most pissed off right now?
After the jump
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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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Last night, Jon Stewart appeared on The O’Reilly Factor to further defend Common on his appearance at The White House late last week. The invite from Michelle Obama caused some noise in the media, mainly with FOX News, O’Reilly and others like him who felt Common shouldn’t have been invited. To me, Nas explained this whole thing perfectly in his recent sitdown with Sway of MTV. If you missed it, MissInfo also addressed this in her Celebrity Drama Report last week which you can listen to below.

Miss Info Celebrity Drama Report, 9pm:

Watch part two of Jon Stewart’s interview and Common’s performance at the White House, after the jump….

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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….

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Release the doves! Tina Knowles will have to wait a little longer for a grandchild to spring forth from her elder daughter’s fertile loins.

TMZ has styled on US Weekly’s morning Beyonce-pregnancy scoop, by crushing it with their own scoop…..that Mama Tina visited the Ellen Degeneres Show to deliver the news, the pregnancy rumors are false! Again! The washboard abs spotted in Miami today prevail!

(and perhaps, this will also be an opportune time to promote the Miss Tina line for full-figured women, available on the Home Shopping Network. Now that’s how you spin a public relations opportunity. The Knowles-Carters are an army, better yet a navy.)

UPDATE: Videoclip of Tina Knowles’ response to the Beyonce pregnancy rumors…
after the jump
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(Oksana Grigorieva and Mel Gibson making happy face)

Mel Gibson’s disgusting phone rants:

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the sweet sounds of Mel Gibson’s phone jonesing with his Russian ballerina babymama, Oksana Grigorieva.
Ladies, it’s okay to admit that you were entranced by Mel’s breathless terms of endearment, as he berated his girlfriend for not going to the jacuzzi with him, as he admitted that he knocked out her teeth while she held their infant daughter, and as he suggested that her fashion sense might get her raped by some men of color.

But as disgusting as this neverending stream of audio is, the plus side is the flood of Mel Gibson mockery. For instance….Someone was genius enough to create posters of Mel Gibson’s choice quotes with kittens. Verbal abuse can be adorable!
(for the record, though: it’s actually not adorable, it’s frightening and anyone who is experiencing this in their own relationship needs to run in the opposite direction….but that black and white kitten is SO CUTE.)

But there’s more….what about the Mel Gibson x Christian Bale mash-up, twice the crazy! And then there’s the overdub masterpiece Mel Gibson rant x What Women Want…etc.

UPDATE: DJ Brainchild also made a Mel Gibson x Kat Stacks mashup! Lawd.

after the jump
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