The situation in Baltimore, Maryland this week has been a powder keg, or a raisin in the sun. The tweet that floored me was from @Shugah, who quoted a very prophetic James Baldwin Esquire interview from 1968. (Read that for some head crack.) But back to Baltimore, 2015…the complex issues from Freddie Gray’s unexplained spinal injury, his death, the release of his unrelated police record, the days of peaceful protest, and then this week’s explosion of violence, looting, and vandalism…can not be summed up neatly or patched up with a meme. It has to be added to the growing list of issues and incidents that are festering around the country.
But…I just wanted to share an interview that CBS did with Toya Graham, the Baltimore mom who angrily pulled her 16-year-old son off the street when she spotted him throwing rocks at riot police.

Watch Toya Graham…after the jump
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After going sneaker shopping with Swaggy P, 2 Chainz quenches his thirst in the latest episode of his GQ series Most Expensivest Shit. Joined by his pal Diplo, Tity Boi samples the most expensive bottled water on earth, which will set you back $100,000 for a few sips. I’m good with the tap water, thanks.

Watch the clip below…

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And now for the most ridiculous story of the day. In the “Your Money” section of today’s The New York Times, Slim Thug penned an op-ed titled “Slim Thug’s Real Estate Game Plan, Dashed by a Dalliance.” In it, the Boss Hogg Outlaw opens up about the time he wanted to sell his five-bedroom house in Houston, but ended up sleeping with his real estate agent (you sly dog, Slim) and ultimately lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Read an excerpt from the story below…

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‘House of Cards’ highly anticipated Season 3 wasn’t supposed to hit your Netflix lineup until February 27th. But like an tantalizing invitation to cancel all your NYFW and All-Star Weekend work duties…this just happened on your boob tube.

And it’s not just Episode 1…
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Amazing song… def my favorite on the album… but oh my god, the sight of mud-smeared, flesh-toned, Speedo-wearing Shia LaBeouf grappling and extreme-miming with a pre-pubescent 12-year-old girl (dancer Maddie Ziegler) around a cage is enough to make my sciatica shoot daggers up my spine. I know it’s “acting,” but it is so wrong on so many levels.

1) Stop it Shia, you’re not hipster Mikhail Baryshnikov. That tween girl isn’t Gregory Hines. And this isn’t White Nights. (Extra credit to anyone who knows this random movie reference)
2) Sia… your music is so great. But between Lena Dunham in “Chandeliers” and Shia in “Elastic Heart,” you’re acting like you don’t know your own self-worth. It’s like Diddy’s over-celebritizing all his videos in the 90’s.
3) Interpretive Dance. Never ok. Unless it’s ironic… and performed by really out of shape comedians like Will Ferrell or Zach Galifianakis. Or in a movie like Magic Mike.

Watch the video below…

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Just when it seemed like the world was getting used to the idea of RiFF RaFF, a white rapper with colorful cornrows and a BET tattoo, he’s switching it up completely. After pumping iron and scoffing protein for the last few months, the Neon Icon is in fighting shape and is now ready to realize his wrestling dreams with the help of Hulk Hogan. No, seriously.

Read more below…

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New York city officially has its first case of Ebola and already people are in a state of panic. According to the NY Times, a NYC doctor, Craig Spencer, who recently treated Ebola patients in Guinea — tested positive for the Ebola virus on Thursday.

Before being officially diagnosed, he rode the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn on Wednesday night, when he went to the the Brooklyn Bowl, and then took a taxi home. Spencer is currently being treated at the Bellevue Hospital Center and is in isolation.

Scary.

Ebola Facts: How Many Ebola Patients Have Been Treated Outside Africa?

Are other bowlers who present at the alley at risk? Read below

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(TLC’s T-Boz, Left-Eye, and Chilli in 1995)

I love long-buried stories of totally random love connections like this. While this has absolutely nothing to do with anything, Chili from TLC was reminiscing on the 90’s with OK! Magazine, on the horrors of thin eyebrows, the magic of TV-VCR combos, the days of touring with MC Hammer…
Then she dropped a celeb-drama bomb!

OK! Mag: Is there a movie from the 90s you can still recite the lines from?
Chilli: I’m a movie buff but I have to think about movies from the 90s. Clueless—I loved Amber’s, “Whatever!” It’s funny because I saw that movie with Prince. He took me to see that movie. I’ve never told this story! We were in Indianapolis and the theater was closed but of course they opened back up from him so it was just he and I watching Clueless.

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Something very serious must have happened between Solange and her brother-in-law Jay Z during the Met Gala last week. While everyone was documented having fun at the glamourous party, the entire Carter/Knowles clan attended an afterparty at the Standard Hotel and were later seen leaving via private elevator.

In the surveillance footage you see Beyonce and Jay Z enter, as well as their security guard. Solange enters and as soon as the doors close, she starts to angrily confront Jay Z. Her anger escalates into a full on physical attack, punching, kicking and thrashing until the bodyguard restrains her. And even then she is still gesturing to Jay and trying to get at him (via TMZ).

While Jay Z reacted to Solange’s fury by grabbing her leg to prevent her from kicking him again, he never fights back or shows visible signs of anger. Beyonce does not intervene with Solange at all. All parties remain calm to prevent the fight from escalating further. And the bodyguard deftly stops the elevator to make sure the incident remains private, or so he thought.

It does not seem as though Jay is surprised. And neither is Beyonce. Both seem very calm but obviously upset. Solange did not seem drunk only because when she enters the elevator she appears calm. And when paparazzi catch the whole family leaving the building, she also seems calm. But still very angry. Beyonce gets into the car with her. At first Jay Z looks to be getting into the same car as well, but is directed to a separate car.

Family disputes are par for the course. But rarely do we see behind a curtain as ironclad as the Carters.

UPDATE: Extended footage of the altercation has surfaced, in which Solange continues her attack on Jay Z for another two minutes. At one point, as Beyonce begins to exit the elevator, Solange launches her purse at Jay before her sister reenters the elevator to try to calm things.

Watch the video below…

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By now you should be well aware that Rob Ford is not your typical mayor. He smokes crack, tramples colleagues and speaks with a Jamaican accent in fast food joints. Oh, and just this weekend he showed up at a Beats Academy of Toronto charity fundraiser function, where he attempted to make a hip-hop beat. I can’t say for sure, but I imagine this is what witnessing Pete Rock making “T.R.O.Y.” might have felt like. Can we get a Drake verse on this heat rock?

Watch after the jump…

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