Platinum rapper Young Buck has filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy but he’s still insisting that it’s not because he’s broke. The hip hop artist, whose Nashville home was raided by Federal agents over a tax debt, said “I have to get my finances back in order and deal with the contract situations I was in.” The former G-Unit rapper says that by filing for Chapter 13, he will be able to get all of his seized property returned to him and has 5 years to repay his creditors under a court-approved payment plan. Young Buck adds “Now I have a clean slate and full control over my own life and career.”
Atlanta rapper B.o.B. just got the gig of a lifetime as he is set to open for Jay-Z and Eminem at their upcoming Detroit concerts. He’s already managed to make a name for himself with the hit ‘Airplanes’ but I can imagine how humbling it is to be the opening act for such established hip hop artists. Congratulations to B.o.B. for getting such a big opportunity! I’m sure a lot of people would want to be in his place. Heck, I want to be in his place. Too bad I don’t have the skills to earn it. But I could dream right?
Photos of TI and wife Tameka ‘Tiny’ Cottle getting arrested have been posted on TMZ and you can clearly see a couple of styrofoam cups in the front and back cup holders. It may not mean much now but just keep reading. While cops are yet to say which controlled substance they found in the car, there seems to be evidence of Sizzurp, aka purple drank or codeine syrup. There’s a form of codeine that falls under the class of drugs for which the rapper and the former singer were arrested for and it also happens to be the main ingredient in Sizzurp, which is a growing problem in the South. Sizzurp is typically ingested in styrofoam cups and is becoming a thing in the hip hop community. Things are definitely looking bad for TI and Tiny.
Wyclef Jean has reportedly not given up on his aspirations to become the next president of Haiti. The hip hop singer plans to send a lawyer to the courts to appeal their rejection of his candidacy. He claims that he has legal papers “which shows everything is correct and feel that what is going on here has everything to do with Haitian politics.” This is certainly getting interesting and I will be tuning in to see how it all unfolds. Do you think Wyclef should be allowed to run for president or not? If he’s able and capable, why not?
Jay-Z is planning to release a memoir that includes interviews with his family and friends, as well as detailed discussions of his lyrics. The book, titled ‘Decoded’, will go all the way back to the rapper’s childhood, growing up in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects, as well as his years as a teen drug dealer and his path to becoming one of the world’s most famous hip hop stars. When asked about the process of getting the book done, Jay-Z said “It’s too much. For the book, I was interviewed, people close to me were interviewed. So I was learning a lot of things I didn’t know as a child. It’s not anything I haven’t said in the past, in songs. It’s just more detailed. A song is three minutes long. A book doesn’t have to rhyme, and it has no time limit, so you can say exactly how everything went.”
Sean Penn isn’t the only one not supporting Wyclef Jean’s campaign to be the president of Haiti. Former Fugee band mate Pras has not only publicly criticized the hip hop singer, but he’s also made it clear that he supports Wyclef’s opponent Michel Martelly. Pras is concerned that Wyclef lacks a definitive plan to help the millions of people living in tents since the earthquake earlier this year. The rapper said “You’ve got 1.2 million people living in tent city right now. What are the plans to get these people out?” He also questions the fact that Wyclef uses a private jet to travel to Haiti, saying that the money saved by travelling via a commercial flight instead can help save families. Pras has a valid point.
The Black Eyed Peas are currently putting the finishing touches on their follow-up album to their multiplatinum ‘The END’. The hip hop band new album is called ‘The Beginning’ and is expected to be released by the end of the year. Will.I.Am recently spoke to the Associated Press about the new album, saying “It symbolizes growth, new beginnings and starts, fresh new perspective. It’s a positive, feel-good song at the time where there’s question marks and uncertainty. People want to be reminded that it’s going to be all right.” I can’t wait to hear some of their new music. However, it does leave me wondering whatever happened to Fergie’s solo career.
Once again it seems that the singer is having legal issues. This time with his former employees who are claiming that they spent a great deal of hours planning R. Kelly’s tour and recording schedules only to never get paid in full for their services and the great dedication with which they served R. Kelly. So they’re filling a lawsuit against the singer in the hopes of getting their money. Unfortunately it might be that the man is broke and doesn’t have any possibilities to pay them even if they win the lawsuit. They’ll probably just have to settle with a mansion or other some such compensation prize.
Here’s one of the perks of being famous that you don’t get to see enforced very often. In honor of his services as a rapper it would appear that Virgin Airlines has named a plane after Drake. Richard Branson had this to say about the matter: “We’re honored to name our plane Air Drake. He’s Canadian through and through; he’s one of the most successful Canadians. He bridges the gap between Canada and America very successfully.” Sure, nothing makes a bridge over gaps like Hip-Hop. Drake truly is an inspiration to all singers who are aspiring to have their own planes named after them.
Good news for Black Eyed Peas fans! While it has been reported that there’s been ongoing feuds within the hip hop band that has pushed Fergie to want to leave, will.i.am insists that the rumors are all lies and says that they are never going to break up. Never, really? That’s a long time and I find that hard to believe. And since it was will.i.am who said it, who also happens to reportedly be the one that Fergie is feuding with, I’m not going to hold him to it. Until the lone female singer of the band comes out to say that she’s staying, I’d rather believe that she’s leaving. She can do so much better anyway.
The rapper has apparently recently settled a little dispute with the IRS in which he was found guilty of not having filled tax reports for quite some time and paid his due of 106, 000 dollars. His lawyer however insists that Method Man is an honest individual and the situation arose simply due to other factors: “He’s a busy guy and he had people who he thought were handling his business and they weren’t. He’s a good man. He made a mistake and he took care of it.” Well, hopefully those people will be held accountable by Method Man. After all, he wouldn’t want them doing this again to somebody else.
And he seems fairly excited about the idea, too… or at least that’s what Ne-Yo is trying to let on. This is what he said about the fact that his girlfriend, Monyetta Shaw, is expecting their first child together: “I am 30, and I do have my first child on the way, and I’m very, very, very excited about that. It’s a New Year’s baby.” Well, well… there might be a few prophecies tied to that one in such a case! Maybe Ne-Yo can make something funny up that includes his stage name. After all, there are many, many Matrix fans out there.
That’s what happens when you fall behind on the payments with spousal support. It looks like Nas is short of 300, 000 dollars in such payments a substantial amount of which are mortgage payments. So Nas is going to have a payment plan made-up in order to cover Kelis’ mortgage… and any other expenses she might have. The rapper had better get the records rolling… and the tour bus for that matter since 14, 000 dollars a month is no small amount, even for someone as successful as Nas. He wouldn’t want to be caught up in missing his payments again… very bad things can come from that.
The rapper who stars alongside the actor in the movie “Get him to the Greek” apparently took Jonah Hill and a couple of his friends to Las Vegas to have a gathering of sorts. And Jonah Hill managed to shock Diddy with his partying given the opportunity. This is what the actor related on the matter: “The weekend before we started shooting he took me and my friends from high school and university plus him and his friends there to kind of party and hang out. It was pretty crazy let me tell you. I have to be honest, I think he was really shocked by me and my friends because usually I’m just this boring guy.” It’s such a pity that all that happens in Vegas has to stay in Vegas, Diddy would’ve probably had some stories to tell…
With a new album coming out, Eminem is coming clean about what the music on his latest record means to him and how the word ‘Recovery’ is more than just a title. The rapper recently opened up about his fight with addiction saying “It took me awhile to admit I actually did have a problem. In the hip-hop world that I live in, it can be mistaken for weakness and the last thing you want to do in hip-hop is admit that you’re weak. But if I didn’t admit I was weak with this certain thing I was going to die.” While he managed to get clean, Eminem also says that he’s not sure how to advise other artists to do the same, saying “I don’t know how you avoid it. I mean, I could say the cliched things, make sure you stay on the right path, you make the right decisions in life. You know, fame is a funny thing, man, especially, you know, actors, musicians, rappers, rock singers, it’s kind of a lifestyle and it’s easy to get caught up in it – you go to bars, you go to clubs, everyone’s doing a certain thing… It’s tough.”
Jay-Z is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine. The 40-year old rapper talked about his most frustrating meeting as the president of Def Jam and his interest in indie rock. Jay-Z candidly says that he was pretty much in frustrating meetings the whole time that he was the president of Def Jam. He talks about indie rock saying “I love the energy coming out indie rock right now. It has this rebellion thing that hip-hop is missing now, the thing that made hip-hop hip-hop.” Grab a copy of the magazine to see more of the interview including what the rap mogul said on why he isn’t trying to get LeBron James to join the New Jersey Nets.
It looks like fans of the former hip-hop group are going to be very disappointed seeing as how Big Boi and Andre 3000 won’t be able to team up again on Big Boi’s new album due to Jive Records. This is what Big Boi said on the matter: “Jive Records told me my album is a piece of art, and they didn’t know what to do with it. Jive is trying to block Dre from being on my record. We can’t be on songs together now.” The record label might be overreacting a bit on this one, but hey, if they consider Big Boi’s work to be that valuable, maybe he should display a bit more flattery… just for the façade of it all.
But no matter… the rapper apparently let this happen and claims it was a calculated business decision. It seems that the mansion Chamillionaire bought in Houston four years ago was recently repossessed by the bank. The rapper had this to say about his tactical business decision: “I was always on the road touring. I just didn’t feel like it was a good business investment to pay that much mortgage for a house I was never at. I still got all the cars.” Well, all’s well that ends well… after all, Chamillionaire can always turn all of those cars into a profit… unlike the mansion. He will do his name justice in the end.
Here’s a pretty funny story. Rapper Rick Ross apparently got his name from a very successful drug lord who was active back in the eighties but got busted in 1995 and sentenced to life behind bars. As luck would have it, he was released eleven years later and he is now attempting to reclaim his name from the rapper Rick Ross who supposedly made a fortune based solely on his name and the image he created around it. Well, he does have a point. After all, if the music isn’t all that good and it’s just for the namesake, Rick Ross is entitled to at least a bit of what his name won him.
It sure took them long enough… more than a year to be exact since Kelis filled for divorce in April 2009. Since then the battle raged on and it has finally come to an end. And a favorable end for Kelis it is since Nas now has to pay her 10, 000 dollars in child support and spousal support every month. Not a very bad deal, especially if Kelis even got a part of the goods as well. It seems that Nas had better start to get his records rolling because there are bills to be paid and child support is no joke. Others have done jail time for not behaving properly in that area.
