Shout out to All Hip Hop

By Ismael AbduSalaam

Bay area rapper Mac Minister was found guilty today in the double murders of Anthony “Fat Tone” Watkins and associate Jermaine ‘Cowboy” Atkins. Minister, real name Andre Dow and age 37, was convicted along with his friend Jason “Corleone” Mathis of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. The trial lasted less than a week.

Prosecutors claimed that Minister committed the crime in retaliation for the November 2004 murder of Andre “Mac Dre” Hicks, which sparked whisperings of potential gang warfare between Kansas City and Bay Area artists. While never charged, Fat Tone was rumored to be behind the Mac Dre killing.

In May 2005, Fat Tone and Cowboy were ambushed in Las Vegas, arriving there based on a promise by an unspecified party to meet a representative for Snoop Dogg’s label.

Their bodies were later found riddled with AK-47 bullets at a construction site outside of Las Vegas. MGM Grand security cameras documented Minister leaving the hotel with two men just hours before the slaying.

I saw this article last week and my initial thoughts were that a)it was well written, b)what the hell does TIME know about Rap? Like what exactly is their basis for naming ANYONE the best.. are they qualified to even judge?

But then this week we had a little mini family reunion.. and there were a bunch of teenagers (including my daughter, son, nieces, cousins, etc..) and they would bug out EVERY TIME LIL WAYNE WAS ON THE RADIO OR TV

Hmmmmmmm…. Wayne IS very popular right now.. he IS selling at a time when no one else seems to be… he IS creative and making his own path.. well damn.. maybe TIME magazine is onto something here

check out the article

By Mary-Anne Toy, Beijing

FEARS of a “no fun Olympics” are growing as security restrictions increase and become more bizarre with less than 20 days to go until the opening ceremony.

Beijing police have been visiting bar owners in the popular Sanlitun area and asking them to sign pledges agreeing to not serve black people or Mongolians and ban activities including dancing.

Bar owners said that police have been clamping down on black people and Mongolians, who are sometimes implicated in drug dealing and prostitution, as part of an Olympic clean-up campaign that they and locals fear will make for a secure but sterile Games.

Maggies, Beijing’s most notorious expatriate bar, referred to as the “Mongolian embassy” because of its popularity with Mongolian prostitutes and Western men, was shut suddenly about two months ago after a reported murder.

The gay bar Destination has also been ordered to shut down its dance bar until further notice.

And in a separate move, the Ministry of Public Security announced at the start of the month that from October 1, discos, karaoke bars and other entertainment venues must install transparent partitions in previously private rooms, and ensure staff dress more modestly as part of an effort to crack down on prostitution and drugs.

This will either blow your mind or open your eyes.

An engineering masterpiece still in its construction phase located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Here’s the finished product.

Notice the size of the palm trees outside. Can you guess what it is?Remember, this is in the middle of the desert… The very HOT desert where temperatures get up to 140 degrees… Unbelievable, but true…..

This old head is kicking knowledge about the gas crisis… take 5 minutes out of your day and get educated

Are you guys paying attention to this Banking situation??? they are saying Washington mutual is next.

PASADENA, Calif., July 14 (Reuters) - IndyMac Bancorp Inc (IMB.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) customers lined up outside a branch at the company’s headquarters on Monday, hoping to withdraw their money after regulators seized what was once one of the largest mortgage lenders in the United States.

Several hundred people arrived around 4 a.m., five hours before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp planned to open that branch.

Regulators seized Pasadena-based IndyMac on Friday after a bank run in which customers withdrew $1.3 billion of deposits over 11 business days, as worries about the company’s survival grew, regulators said. The bank has 33 branches in Southern California.

The FDIC said the renamed IndyMac Federal Bank will cover insured deposits, mostly up to $100,000, and initially cover 50 percent of uninsured deposits.

“I have $360,000 in this bank, and I was misled by this bank,” said Robert Clark, a Glendale resident who was waiting on line. “I gave the names of my mother, my sister and my brother on the account so I thought I would be insured. I don’t know what to do. I really don’t know what to do.”

London, Jul 13 Hollywood glamour couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been blessed with twin babies — one boy and a girl, extending their family to six children, included three adopted by them. Jolie, 33, gave birth to the twins in a French Riviera hospital, after weeks of speculation and one false alarm.

Doctor Michel Sussmann at the Lenval hospital, where the actress has been on bed rest since last month, said Jolie had one boy weighing 2.27kg and one girl at 2.28kg last night.

The girl has been named Vivienne Marcheline and the boy Knox Leon, ITV.Com reported.

“The babies are doing well. The operation went just perfectly. Angelina is in very good spirits. Brad Pitt was at her side. He was there and all was well,” Dr Sussmann said.

The couple have reportedly sold the first photos of their newly born babies to an American publication for more than 5 million pounds.

Jolie, star of current hit movie Wanted, and Pitt, of Ocean’s Eleven fame, went public with their relationship after co-starring in the 2005 film Mr & Mrs Smith.

Jolie made her last public appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in May, when she appeared heavily pregnant.

It’s American Brandstand: Marketers Underwrite Performers

By ROBERT LEVINE - NY TIMES

The hip-hop and R&B producer Jermaine Dupri has discovered best-selling acts like Kris Kross and Da Brat, has produced hits for Mariah Carey and Jay-Z, and now runs the urban music division of the Island Def Jam Music Group. He’s also looking for fresh talent for a new label financed by a company new to the music industry.

The new player? Procter & Gamble.

The consumer goods giant is part of a wave of companies getting into the music business to promote their own products, essentially becoming record labels themselves.

Procter & Gamble, for example, is joining Island Def Jam in a joint venture called Tag Records, a label that will sign and release albums by new hip-hop acts. It is named after a brand of body spray that P.& G. acquired when it bought Gillette.

And Mr. Dupri, a music-industry veteran and the longtime partner of the singer Janet Jackson, sounds quite pleased with his new gig.

Wow

(CNN) — A prisoner killed in a Maryland county jail on Sunday was a victim of “vigilante justice,” Prince George’s County Chief Executive Jack Johnson said.

Ronnie White, 19, died of strangulation and asphyxiation and had two broken bones in his neck, an autopsy showed.

An attorney for White’s family said that because White was being held in solitary confinement at the Prince George’s County Correctional Center, a corrections officer would have had to let whoever killed the prisoner into his cell.

His death came two days after his arrest in connection with the death of Prince George’s County police Cpl. Richard Findley, who died Friday after being struck by a truck. Authorities believe that White was driving the truck, which was thought to be stolen. Police were attempting to flag it down when Findley was struck.

“The killing of the officer is absolutely abhorrent, but also, Mr. White was presumed innocent and deserved his day in court just like any other citizens,” Johnson said Monday night. “We live in a constitutional democracy, and no one has the right to be judge and jury.”

By Brandi Hopper

Young Jeezy recently sealed his first role in a major motion picture, with a part in Ice Cube’s upcoming flick, Janky Promoters. The comedy, which is Cube’s first screenplay since 2002’s Friday After Next, will feature Cube along with Jeezy, comedian Mike Epps and actor Terry Crews.

Jeezy plays the “big name hip-hop act” who a pair of shady concert promoters, played by Cube and Epps, try to book for a show. Hilarity follows as the janky promoters face the neighborhood nemesis, Mondo who has Cube’s son — played by young comedian Little JJ — under contract.

In other Jeezy news, the rapper who has spoken out for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said in a recent Vibe interview he’s down with republican nominee John McCain. The two met during an appearance on Saturday Night Live last month.

“No disrespect to my man Barack, but I fuck with John McCain. He greeted me like a god,” he said. “The fact that he acknowledged me was crazy. I said, ‘I’m Young Jeezy, and it’s rough out here.’ He blew me off at first. I was like, ‘Nah, for real. It’s rough out here, so what you gonna do to change it?’ . . . And he gave me a look back, like, ‘I know.’”