Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Suge Knight Sues Kanye West for Shooting

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Suge Knight, Kanye West: Lawsuit, Guns and Money

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How Love and Money Mix and How You Can Do it the Right Way

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Black Single Mothers and Dating: What's It Really Like?

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Should Facebook Be Held Accountable for Murders by Members?

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Rev. Al Sharpton and Dr. Boyce Discuss the Plight of the Black Male

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Obama's Fatherhood.gov Commercial: Too Feminine for Black Men?

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BP Chooses a Black Man to Head its Claims Process

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Son of Dallas Police Chief Suspected in Killing a Cop




Saturday, June 19, 2010

The Cost for Tiger's Cheating - $25 million so far

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Tiger Woods Sex Scandals Cost Him $25 Million in Endorsements




Friday, June 18, 2010

Lady Drama Talks Wendy Williams and Bossip on AOL Black Voices

I have a great deal of respect for Lady Drama, aka Ebony Garris. Lady Drama, in case you don't know, was the person who ran Bossip.com for quite a while. She's the celebrity gossip queen of the Internet and probably the next Wendy Williams.
Not only does Lady Drama have the scoop on what the celebs are up to, she also has the scoop on making it in the entertainment business. The entertainment business may seem to be a place of glamour and excitement. But it can also be a place of bad contracts, bankruptcy and shady business managers. The interview with Ebony is below, and I consider her story to be a cautionary tale for anyone looking to make it in show business in the crazy city of New York.

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Wendy Williams, Bossip and Lady Drama Talk Black Celebrity Gossip

I have a great deal of respect for Lady Drama, aka Ebony Garris. Lady Drama, in case you don't know, was the person who ran Bossip.com for quite a while. She's the celebrity gossip queen of the Internet and probably the next Wendy Williams.
Not only does Lady Drama have the scoop on what the celebs are up to, she also has the scoop on making it in the entertainment business. The entertainment business may seem to be a place of glamour and excitement. But it can also be a place of bad contracts, bankruptcy and shady business managers. The interview with Ebony is below, and I consider her story to be a cautionary tale for anyone looking to make it in show business in the crazy city of New York.

 

Click to read




Monday, June 14, 2010

Female Artists Excluded from the Industry

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

I met spoken-word hip hop artist Shanelle Walker when I went to give a speech atKentucky State University. Shanelle sent me a video of a rhyme she recited in honor of President Barack Obama. I was instantly floored by the performance, since I found her to be an incredibly powerful artist.
But Shanelle's performance led me to consider broader concerns, such as why there are so few women in the hip-hop industry. I remain confused that women are not given a chance to shine in a field dominated by men. While hip-hop has historically been the channel designed to give a voice to urban America, women have been effectively left out. While I've certainly spoken my piece on how hip hop needs to change, here are some reasons I believe women are missing:
1) The hypermasculinity of hip-hop: By becoming so masculine and sexualized, the music doesn't give women opportunities that don't involve a G-string. I look forward to the day when the culture is not driven by who gets shot the most and who does the best job of proving that he's a goon. That might actually lead to better music, since right now, many hip-hop artists come off like World Wrestling Entertainment characters. It's O.K. for an artist to also be a human-being.

 

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NFL Quarterback Gets into Strip Club Fight

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NFL Quarterback Vince Young Cited in Strip Club Brawl




Black News - 6/14/10

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Slim Thug and Black Women: Financial Consequences of his Remarks

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New Gary Coleman Will Names Mystery Woman as Sole Heir

  • Maybe Gary Coleman is getting the last laugh after all. When I read that Coleman may have left a ... Read More
  • By Jeff Mays on Jun 14th 2010 10:54AM | Comments (0)

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Box Office Breakdown: Like Father, Like Son, Jaden Smith's 'Karate Kid' Delivers

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Financial Lovemaking: Diddy's Son Gets $360K Car - Too Much?

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Joe Jackson Blames Wife Katherine for Michael's Untimely Death

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2010 Tony Awards: Blacks Do Well On The Great White Way


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VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Juanita Bynum Performs 'Soul Cry'

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Completion and Excellence

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Completion and Excellence

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Slim Thug Attempts to Defend His Comments About Black Women

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NFL Player Reggie Wayne Sues Mistress for Charging Up Credit Card

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A Look At Mariah Carey Through the Years




Black News: Did Diddy's Son Get Too Much with the Expensive Car?

by Dr Boyce Watkins

Some of us turned our heads to the side when it was reported that the rapper and businessman Diddy gave his son Justin a $360,000 Maybach automobile for his 16th birthday. People asked me what I thought about this, since I've written a great deal on how to teach your kids about money, and I used a three letter acronym: TAH - "Tacky As Hayell."
I respect Diddy and I apologize for having to lean in on him for this one, but as S Tia Brown and I discuss in our latest episode of Financial Lovemaking, you can find ways to show your children love without spoiling them for the rest of the world. By giving his son such an extraordinary gift at such an early age, Diddy may have minimized his son's ability to conceptualize the value of working hard for his success or empathizing with those who are less fortunate. In other words, receiving such overdoses of dopamine at the age of 16 is a sure-fire recipe for depression later in life.

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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Rapper Slim Thug Speaks on His Black Woman Remarks

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, AOL Black Voices

Many of you may already know about the "interesting" comments made by the rapperSlim Thug, and his frustration about the lack of loyalty among black women. His comments were met with resistance by myself and Dr. Marc Lamont Hill from Columbia University, who gave him the stable advice to keep his mouth shut. I say that "Slim Thugga" needs to be quiet, not because he's wrong, but because this is a battle he can't win and still sell records. Getting every black woman in America to hate you is simply not good for business. Even Talib Kweli, a fellow hip hop artist, had something to say about Slim Thug's remarks.

On his twitter page, Slim Thug went out of his way to try to protect his image in the face of all the backlash:

Click to read




NFL Player Sues Mistress for Credit Card Abuse

AOL Black Voices

NFL star Reggie Wayne is finding out the hard way that giving your credit card number out to anyone may not be such a good idea. Wayne, who is married, is suing his ummm, girlfriend Natasha McKenzie. In the affidavit, Wayne is alleging that McKenzie did it big on Wayne's credit card without asking his permission.


As the story goes, McKenzie, who is 26 years old, just needed Wayne's credit card for a "few little things," like paying her cell phone bill and buying a plane ticket. She was allegedly going to buy the ticket to come and visit Wayne to spend "quality time" with him. To Reggie's surprise, Natasha and her friends "got a little jiggy" with the credit card and charged up $95,000 worth of "necessities." Actually, there were 333 necessities on her list, which is the number of charges she allegedly made to the account.


Reggie originally took the charges to police in April. He has had the uncomfortable challenge of keeping this information from his wife. McKenzie claims that Wayne knew about the charges all along, and that she is only being scapegoated because either his wife found out about her or he has moved on to another mistress. Either way, this entire situation is a little bit strange. Wayne is not the only athlete to be taken for big money as the result of an affair. Tiger Woods allegedly paid millions to keep some of his mistresses quiet.

 

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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Officers Caught on Tape in New Jersey Brutality Case

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

I am not quite sure what to make of the ruffled YouTube video that is now scouring the web out of Paterson, New Jersey. In the video, the woman filming, who mentions that her mother works in the sheriff's office, is taping a New Jersey police officer holding a black man to the ground. The man clearly has his hands behind his back and appears to be restrained.


As the woman videos the incident from a distance, the officer inexplicably grabs the man, turns him around and puts pepper spray into his eyes. He appears to do it twice.

 

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Brian McKnight Gets the Baby Daddy Blues

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

It appears that the singer Brian McKnight is now a not-so-proud father. Well, the child isn't exactly a baby either. According to TMZ, the child is a 14-year old that Brian hasn't exactly claimed to be his own. Well, whether McKnight chooses to address the child as his own or not, a Florida judge has ruled that Brian must now take financial responsibility for the child. The amount owed? $341,640, which comes out to just over $2,000 per month for every month since the child was born.


The mother of the child, Miriam Lee, took Brian McKnight to court to establish paternity last year. Why she waited so long to do so is not clear. From this point on, the singer is responsible for making child support payments in the amount of $11,388 per month. The ruling was a default judgment, since McKnight was not in court and didn't respond to the woman's claim of paternity.

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The Latest - 6/12/10

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NBA Gets High Marks for Diversity in Annual Report Card

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Obama's "Angry Black Man" Criticism: Isn't He Also Half White?

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CNN Asks Why Black Men Are Not Graduating From College

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Dwyane Wade Given Temporary Custody of His Sons

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Could LeBron James' Mother Rumors Push Him Out of Cleveland?

 

Slim Thug and his comments about black women continue to get the artist into trouble.  Is he going to lose big money because of this?




Thursday, June 10, 2010

Teenager Gets Beat by Cops

The Latest

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Brandon Johnson: 15-Year Old Boy Beaten by Police in Indianapolis

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OJ Simpson Fights to Get a New Trial in Nevada

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Oscar Grant Trial Has No Black Jurors

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How To Fight Like A Celebrity!

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Around the Web -- Jay-Z in Rolling Stone, Drake Was Rihanna's 'Pawn'? + More

  • In his third Rolling Stone cover article, Jay-Z speaks on aging gracefully in a youth-oriented ... Read More
  • By Journey Ade on Jun 10th 2010 5:45PM | Comments (2)



Talib Kweli, Slim Thug, Marc Lamont Hill and Black Women

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

A note to Slim Thug: You probably just need to be quiet for a while. It's not to say thatyour comments about black women were outside your rights to freedom of speech, but if you keep dissing the audience most likely to go out and buy your records, you are probably going to end up in the same poorhouse as MC Hammer. Don't get me wrong, black men love your music (at least I do), but the bottom line is that brothers don't buy albums, books, or anything else put up for sale. But when black women turn on you, it's a wrap son. Settle down and go back to the studio; it's good for your financial health.
I wrote yesterday about the comments made by Slim Thug regarding how he perceives white women to be a better dating choice than black women, as well asColumbia Professor Marc Lamont Hill'sresponse to Slim Thug's words. It seems that the debate has taken a life of it's own, now that rapper Talib Kweli has joined the conversation. In a recent essay he wrote for Vibe Magazine, Talib Kweli was ever the diplomatic artist, as he showed respect for Slim Thug, but also expressed his own concerns for his colleague's remarks about black women:

Click to read.

To read more about the debate regarding Slim Thug’s comments about black women, click here.




Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Gary Coleman Pictures to Be Published in The Globe Magazine

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, AOL Black Voices

There has been a great deal of public speculation of the role that Shannon Price,Gary Coleman's ex-wife, played in the actor's death. To make matters worse, some are wondering how The Globe Magazine got a hold of pictures of a dying Gary Coleman that are set to be released on Friday. Todd Bridges, who co-starred with Gary Coleman on the popular sit-com, "Diff'rent Strokes," was allowed to see the photos in advance of their being published. Bridges was not happy.

"It's horrible. It's absolutely horrible. And I hope that whoever is responsible for this, and the people that are involved in this, people that are in the pictures, I hope they burn in hell," said Bridges, when appearing to discuss the issue on Entertainment Tonight.
What was most shocking was that even TMZ, a place known for the dirtiest of dirty celebrity gossip, refused to publish the photos. The Globe Magazine apparently has no such standard. A representative of Shannon Price has stated that Shannon is "very hurt by the pictures getting out there." But the problem for Price is that she is actually in the pictures that were taken.

Click to read