(Buju goes to court in Tampa, FL)

The irony is so thick you could cut it with a knife here….

Last week, Buju Banton won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album for Behind the Dawn. Today, a federal court in Tampa found the dancehall legend guilty of…conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and using the telephone to facilitate a drug crime. (He was acquitted of attempted possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute.)

Buju now faces possible life in prison. But he has always insisted that he was set up by the Fed’s informant, Alexander Johnson, a man he met on a plane. Buju testified that he dodged Johnson’s calls for months, and was even home asleep when his co-defendants ended up paying $135k to undercover agents for 5+ kilos of cocaine. But Buju was taped tasting the coke in a warehouse, and he admitted that he pretended to be a celebrity with drug connections…which, in the end, was his downfall.

“Banton, a father of 15, said in earlier taped recordings with the informant that he was “stressed out,” and noted that he needed money to pay for his kids’ school tuition.
Prosecutor Preston hammered Banton during cross examination, saying that the 37-year-old singer went out of his way to portray himself as a drug financier.
“You gave (the informant) every reason to believe you were a player in the cocaine game,” Preston 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.”
Two other Jamaican musicians, Stephen Marley and Gramps Morgan, testified on Banton’s behalf Wednesday and said their friend definitely spoke with swagger — but is a hardworking musician and beloved musician in his native Jamaica who never had contact with cocaine.
“He’s a big talker,” said Marley, who is the son of reggae legend Bob Marley. (source)“

Just think about this: what if all the “big talkers” in hip hop were held accountable for their roleplaying?

Another crazy part to this story….This informant, Alexander Johnson, made $50k from the US government for luring in Buju. And has made $3.3 million total off of his work as an informant in the past 14 years. That’s a lucrative career.

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It’s a snow day, which leads to lots of self-reflection. As well as carb-loading. But hopefully some light Xbox Kinect Zumba? (try to get that horrific image out of your mind now, lol)….

So far, I’ve enjoyed a new OJ da Juiceman song, lol. I’ve checked out a Dr. Dre leak that seems like unsafe for posting. I’ve tried a newfangled gum flavor: trident white tea and mint. (review: refreshing but weird. Doesn’t tea leave your breath tart?)

And then came this slap upside the head…..NYMag’s Jamie Miles went to the opening of artist George Condo’s “Mental States” show at the New Museum. (I’m a big fan of his twisted mutated classical painting) And while she was asking Condo about his cover art for Kanye West’s MBDTF album….Kanye himself joined the interview. Sort of.

Are you happy with the paintings George did of you?
[Kanye nods head yes.]

You are happy?
[Nods head.]

Would you make any changes if you were to do a self-portrait?
[Shakes head no.]

Are you mute tonight?
[Nods head.]

Do you want to do sign language?
[Nods head. Pretends to sign, then shakes our hand and walks away.]

If my *blank stare* could talk it would be yelling at my computer screen.

But to be fair, Kanye didn’t throw gang signs at the artfarts for the whole evening….witness, the Balthazar dinner party photos…
after the jump
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After 50 Cent’s initial phoner with Angie Martinez/Hot97 about the Worldstar HipHop site removal, and his ongoing dispute with them….Fif had a separate convo off-air with the CEO of Worldstar, Lee “Q” Odenat.

In classic 50 Cent fashion, 50’s side of the convo was recorded and videotaped. So in this video you see 50 Cent being asked if he would like to speak to “Q” from Worldstar on the air, and he says “Yes, I’d like that. Very much.” But unlike on-air arguments like Mase x Jim Jones, or 50 x Styles P, the two men are conferenced in off-air. At which point, 50 gets his O-Dog/MenaceToSociety on and dresses down Q on speakerphone….telling him, “What’s up sucka, I should black ya’ eye…watch me show you some of the old me. Keep playing with me, Q. I dare you try to say something crazy. If you’re in New York, you come to my office and we talk. Don’t you ever try to talk to me on no radio.”

That last part confused me a bit, because I thought 50 wanted to get on air with Q. But either way, the convo went from: I should cause the blood vessels around your orbital socket to bleed beneath your skin…to…”alright then you come to the office and sit down and that’s it.” LOL.

UPDATE: And now WSHH is back up. I wonder if all the folks who complained about how toxic it is will stay away from it. All that hullabaloo and RIP tweets for nothing. Smh. Look, there are a bunch of “gossip” sites that clearly don’t care when they’re wrong. They capitalize on the traffic for the lie, and then get everyone again when they post a correction. Sometimes, they don’t even bother with the correction. When I figure out that’s what the site is about. I stop going. Duh! So clearly, there are lots of people who like videos of pregnant hooker fights. I can’t front, sometimes I do too. Other people want straight music videos. Those people go to FreeOnsmash.

Related: 50 Cent tells Angie Martinez that he wasn’t actually responsible for the takedown of WorldstarHipHop but he does have an ongoing lawsuit against them for using his likeness without permission. Worldstar responds in a separate interview.

Earlier today, fans of Worldstarhiphop freaked out, and detractors celebrated when the site’s normal load of “sponsored” rap videos, pregnant hooker fights, and dubious viewcounts did not show up as normal. Soon afterwards, 50 Cent claimed responsibility.

But soon afterwards, he came clean with a call-in to Angie Martinez….

Audio: 50 Cent talks to Angie Martinez, Hot97….about the current site problems of Worldstar Hip Hop, and admits that contrary to his twitter-boasts, he didn’t actually shut down WSHH. But he does explain the tension between him and Worldstar is caused by an ongoing lawsuit. Fif says WSHH used his likeness on their site banner without permission and he thinks they promote negativity….which he says he’s no longer a fan of.

UPDATE: Q the owner of Worldstar also called in to respond to 50 Cent, and told Angie that the site’s problem has nothing to do with 50 Cent, the ongoing lawsuit, or the recent ICE takedowns of blogs. It’s a problem with his server. (now according to others, the problem may be from not responding to a content removal notice. As in, a complaint from someone to Yahoo about a copyright infringement that then resulted in a freeze. *shrug*) Either way, it should have been apparent that this was not the same as the previous ICE seizures, because going to WSHH did not redirect you to a sign from the Federal government.

(thanks to DJ Juanyto/Hot97 for the speedy audio)

UPDATE 2: 50 Cent releases a video of himself yelling at the CEO of Worldstar after they get off the radio

(Vybz Kartel before….and after, terrifying face-eating soap encounter)

This is totally random but I had to discuss this on “Celebrity Drama” tonite, and share the visual on the blog. Vybz Kartel….wha’happend? and whycome? Just as I was confusicated by Sammy Sosa’ highly un-Porcelana skin transformation, I’m equally as baffled by dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s need to look like he’s working at a haunted house, all year round. Add to the skin bleaching, some jailhouse tattoos…and the whole thing is crazyface.

While Sammy just copped some plea about how he suffered the skintone change after a “cleansing” treatment gone wrong….Vybz Kartel is way more bully about the whole thing. He says, “This is my new image…You can expect the unexpected. I feel comfortable with black people lightening their skin. They want a different look. It’s tantamount to white people getting a sun tan.”

Um, is it really “tantamount”, Vybz? Or is it….crazyface.
Since Vybz also launched his own brand of soap which he credits with this reverse-suntan…I’m leaning towards the latter.

(previously: What’s Eating Sammy Sosa?)

Former Bad Boy rapper G-Dep, famously known for his 2001 hits “Let’s Get It” and “Special Delivery” walked into the 25th Precinct in New York City on Wednesday (December 15th) and confessed to a 17 year old murder that he committed back in 1993.

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Cops raided Waka Flocka’s home in Georgia this morning. Waka had just left the house to go to a court date so they questioned his mom/manager Deb Antney and Gucci Mane instead. Gucci was handcuffed and then let go, he was not arrested. Deb told Global Grind that her son missed the raid because he had just left to go to court, but that the cops are “trying to find gang-affiliated stuff that they can’t find. They’re trying to call our company [Bricksquad, 1017, Mizay Management] gangs, like we’re all gangs – even me. Officers just called me the Candy Lady, they wouldn’t let me leave, I was the one really locked in there that they had. They called me the candy lady they said I’m the one that’s running the whole thing or whatever.”

The original TMZ report on the raid cites a law enforcement source who says marijuana and weapons were found, but there’s no further confirmation of that.

UPDATE:
TMZ now adds:
“Cops say two other men in the house were arrested and charged with possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.
As for Waka — law enforcement sources tell us they confiscated the guns — a Kel-Tech .223 caliber sub gun, and a Taurus .40 caliber semi-automatic — as well as prescription drugs from his house.”
Blogxilla says that one of the men arrested was producer Lex Luger’s brother.

Related/Unrelated: DMX is going back to jail, for a year. Reason: “not checking in with his probation officer, failing to submit to drug testing and refusing to undergo treatment.” Bet you didn’t even know he was not in jail. smh.

On a lighter note, watch a very heartfelt emo acoustic rendition of “No Hands.”
After the jump
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Now this isn’t very Christian. As promised, King MC Hammer’s cry for attention is live on the Internets. I mean, this sh*t wasn’t even entertaining, at least Cam went and got  JJ Evans to play Hov.

MissInfo: DEAD @ Mikey for reminding us about JJ! So so true. It’s weird, because Hammer’s beef is from 2010, shirt is from 2008, and his beat is from 1999. Also, why did the trailer look so much more dramatic than the video. Anti-climax fail!

Related: Welcome to Crazytown: MC Hammer preps his holy war against Jay-Z

(spotted at RealTalkNY)

I get it, Jay-Z spit the line “Hammer went broke so you know I’m more focused/I lost 30 mil’ so I spent another 30/ ‘Cause unlike Hammer 30 million can’t hurt me,” on “I’m So Appalled.” Making light of the fact that at one point MC Hammer had tons o’money but then went broke….that would sting any man. (But at least he squandered some of that money on a successful horse stable…smh) And maybe a devout Christian, like Hammer, would be opposed to the use of dark symbols (skulls, demons, anarchy, masonic icons) in videos like “Run This Town.” (He must hate Goya’s work too).
But even I’m surprised that this “beef” didn’t end with some cathartic twitter rants and some healthy youtubing.
Instead, “King” Hammer is teasing his “Better Run Run” video indictment. It’s certainly dramatic but a bit confusing, is this smoke-crying devil-figure the one that Jay-Z is running from? Or is Jay-Z the devil and he’s running at us?
Either way….the timing is amazing. And the whole concept is absurd (partially because it’s possible that Jay-Z hasn’t broken into more than a brisk trot since the late 90s. Running is for plebs.**). But I appreciate that Hammer still has a touch for showmanship.

**related/unrelated: Jay-Z may not run, but according to this video (via TheLifeFiles), he does in fact, dance. LOL….watch after the jump
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It’s difficult to listen to Cam’s tribute to Huddy Combs, his lifelong friend, and friend to so many others who came up in Harlem. But I’m thankful he sent these memories over this morning. And I’m very thankful that Cam is pouring his grief into the music that he and Hud built their lives on.

Rest in Peace: Cam’ron “Tribute to Hud 6″

“Huddy is harlem.”

“This the 30-year story, doggy, of two swingers that took the 6 train to Canal to get two-fingers and rope chains, at 13 poppin’ bubb, the youngest youngest ever to be in the Cotton Club…not even gonna start to lie, my body cold, no heart in side. Damn, my other part done died. ya’ll should run when I start to cry…”

after the jump…video footage from Hud’s wake, as well as a tribute video from former Harlem World member Meeno

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