Ignorance Reigns Supreme, But You Can't Kill a King - 3:05 p.m.
That's it. I was wondering how to start this, but it's right there in the headline. The details of last night's incident haven't come out yet.. yeah, we know that someone was buzzed into the studio.. that in itself should tell you that someone knows who the shooter was - no one has said it was a masked man. It's what happens in most cases in the hood: when the cops show up, no one saw a damn thing. There has to be a story behind this. As we speak there is someone in Queens whispering about what "Ray Ray" did, getting down to the grits of the situation.

Did Jay have a problem with this guy or someone this person knew? The police reports say that after being buzzed in the studio, the guy got to where Jay was, pushed a woman to the side and took the shot at Jay. It has all the makings of a purposeful act - a hit.

Yeah, I'm putting that Mafia spin on it only so I can make this point. On Power 105 this morning, one of Ed Lover and Dr. Dre's co-hosts, Curt Flirt, said something that made a lot of sense. "Back in the days, with Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, all them kats.. they were fabled to have ran with certain dudes, but everybody understood that they weren't in that thing. They were entertainers. What happened to the ghetto pass? If Jay is not a made guy, then who is?"

Last night, I dipped into the basement looking for a Run DMC record to post on the site. I didn't realize how many Run DMC records I had.. singles, albums, damn near everything they've ever made.. even the wack shit from the nineties. But.. you go back to the essence.. when they were doing it BIG. It's unbelievable how much those records difer from what's on the radio today. This is the music that shocked America, and yet it's so innocent sounding compared the new generation. Innocent, but superior in so many ways. I consider the first 5 Star hip-hop album to be Raising Hell.. I'm not saying this just because of what happened.. I remember listening to the joint on my grandmothers cheap ass stereo and thinking it was the best thing I've ever heard.

Jay's legendary status in the hip-hop culture is beyond any doubt. Run DMC broke the mold. With their first record they stripped the music down to just a drumbeat.. and changed the way hip-hop music was made. Later, under the guidance of Rick Rubin, they added guitars and opened up the door to the commercial comforts so many artists enjoy today. Each member of Run DMC played a vital part: Run was the egotistic loud mouth, DMC was more harcore and lyrical, and Jay was the flash and floss. They balanced each other out like rice and gravy.

Know your history. If you don't know the roots of this thing, treat yourself to a greatest hits joint, grab your uncle or aunt's old records..if they let you.. and notice the difference between what artists were saying then and what you hear now. You can't get the full effect that you'd have if you grew up in that era.. but you'll get an idea of what this music is about. If anything good comes out this.. it has to be for the fans and artists involved with this hip-hop thing to have a greater appreciation for the life of it. As fans, we should know our history.. not that you should buy every project by an artist gunning for a comeback. But we should know what made them great in the first place. If it's quality support it; for the record LL's new album is definitely one of his better joints.

Artists, it's been said so many times, you need to be creative. Stop with the softball hits ie. endless colabos and remaking classics for the hell of it. Snoop did it with respect when he did Slick Rick's "La Di Da Di", but did his verion of "Vapors" have to be made and more recently Jay-Z and that Girlfriend trash. Step in the booth with the intention of making history. Know that your talking to people and that they're listening. That doesn't mean you have to preach, it doesn't mean that you don't mention your new car, it means that you think about entertainment. That's what the fans are there for.. to be entertained; not to be amazed by your jewelry and the 24 gun references and how many ways you can split someone's head open. That shit ain't entertainment.

If Run DMC came out with their 85 material today, it would blow these other artists out the box. Just as they did back then. Music that's made with the sole intention of expressing yourself musically.. free from strictly commercial aspirations.. can become timeless. I say can, because not everyone has the talent to be a successful artist. Music may be in their heart, but if you've been watching Puff's Making the Band 2  or saw American Idol, you'd know that not everyone is built like that.

On a final note.. my boys Ron and Fez(I love their show).. here are a couple of 40'ish white guys whose show has nothing do with music. But last night they extended their show by an hour and a half to pay tribute to Jam Master Jay. This because they were fans of Run DMC. It was a real thing to do. I taped the last fifteen minutes of the show.. they play a few songs, some people call in giving their reactions.. and I tacked on a song at the end. There will be a lot of musical tributes today, but I'm sure you won't hear this one.

Listen to it or Download it (Realaudio 5.5 mb)

It Seems Like Your Ready - 11:15 a.m.
You might not live in the NY area, but you can still weigh in on this situation. Local radio station Power 105 is having a concert on November 14th at the Continental Airlines Arena. Scheduled to perform: Ja Rule, Ashanti, Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Erick Sermon, Sean Paul, Faith Evans, Doug E Fresh and ... R KELLY. That's right, it's the resurrection and he's ready to feel on ya booty.

Folks at the radio station know how people feel about R Kelly's whole mess, so they are asking that we weigh in on the decision. Are you ready to see R Kelly get on his knees and beg heaven for a hug, beg you for his forgiveness, admit that he has a problem that he's trying to correct. Can a brother live?

Hmmm.. I'm looking on Power 105's site and don't see a link to the poll, maybe it'll be up later. Until then you can email Ed Lover right here.

Their taking votes all day.. at the moment it's about 50-50.

Is SOHH Dead?
Saw this on hiphopgame.com, but it looks to be authentic. On October 31st one of the pioneer hip-hop websites will call it a wrap. In their own words:
"As the familiar tune is sung on the Mickey Mouse Club, “Now it’s time to say goodbye to all our family.” For SOHH.com, our time has come. Since 1995, we’ve been committed and dedicated to bringing the best to the online hip-hop community. Before big money corporations knew of or cared about the internet, we ventured out and set our standards high always endeavoring to represent Hip-Hop culture with respect. Our motivation was passion and love for a culture that had practically raised us. Our goal was to share Hip-Hop with the world.

We believe we’ve accomplished what we set out to do. Over the course of almost seven years, we’ve reached many milestones and made our mark. Some of our proudest moments were the 1999 Online Hip-Hop Awards that we produced on a wing and a prayer and the 2000 Online Hip-Hop Awards that took online Hip-Hop to the next level. And just like Biggie said, our mamas smiled when they saw our faces up in The Source. :-)

So what do you do when you’ve accomplished your goals? When you’ve done your best and more? You pass the torch to next man or woman who has the dedication, passion and stamina to run the next mile.

At midnight on October 31, 2002, SOHH.com will say goodbye to all our friends and family. We say farewell to everyone who has supported us from day one. To those who we’ve met along the way. To those who’ve worked tirelessly to make it all come together everyday. To the vast community of over 100,000 members who met at SOHH.com’s forums everyday to make friends, love and war.

Thank you all for rolling with us through it all. Run with the torch and use your talents to take our culture to the next level. We look forward to seeing you again along the journey.

Sincerely,

Felicia Palmer, Co-Founder, Steven Samuel, Co-Founder, “Q” – News Editor, Giselle Wasfie – Managing Editor

*edit* Tricia sent me a link to the annoucement on SOHH.. so consider this stamped OFFICIAL

Baby's Big Jewels - 1:14 p.m.
Got home early last night and the first thing I did was turn on 106 and Park. Don't know why, but it was almost automatic, take off jacket, grab remote.. and there was Erick Sermon's new video for "React." That joint had me laughin it up. Redman mush have whispered something in the director's ear, giving him ideas.. "Look we need some big chicks in this thing.. like huge, floppy ones.. They like to shake they stankin asses too." There is a scene with one of these big women backing it up on this real little guy, his eyes are open wide.. like DAMNNN!

Yeah, the video was funny, but I won't even mention how Erick Sermon looked on that couch.. like he was still sore from that slip in the tub. The next guest was the trio of Swizz Beatz, Baby from Cash Money, and Jadakiss. They were promoting Swizz's new, much delayed, album. As soon as they hit the couch, somebody mentioned that Baby had a jewelry box in the back. He starts laughing, like he didn't expect them to mention it..after some pushing and prodding from Free he called his man to bring it out.

The guy comes out and lays the box on the floor, Baby picks it up, puts it on his lap and pops it open. Believe me you have never seen a chain this damn blingy in your life (the picture doesn't do it justice.) He said it was 518 karats of rose gold, obviously had some diamonds on it and worth 2 million of your scrubby, little, dollar bills. The box also had some thick ass bracelets, rings, a watch, and $100,000.00 in cash wrapped in a rubberband. Why was he walking around with all this crap? He said he was on tour, likes to shine and this is how he balls.. "Birdman baby!" Then he started making the sounds of an actual "bird".. "BRuuuu uUUuu"

When the case popped open, Jadakiss was sitting on the far end of the couch looking like his heart was broken.. suddenly his ice wasn't all that cold and some lint dropped out his pocket. Hah! I could give a damn about Baby's chains and money.. I just want to know where he's getting the money for the stuff. When was the last time you bought, or even bothered to wait 20 minutes for one of his joints to download? He did sign a new distribution deal with Universal worth $100 million (hmm.. not sure about that number) but with all the "stuntin" he's doing with the car shows and jewels and signing of big producers like Jazze Pha and Rodney Jerkins, he should have a good $2.50 left in the bank.

Baby considers Puff to be his only rival when it comes to ballin. Puff ain't selling big either, but he has the clothing line to hold him down and the entire Bad Boy catalogue which he bought from Arista. Baby might be on some live for the moment *ish.. I hope he's smarter than he looks, cause they ain't taking no more applications at McDonalds.

Tyson - Lewis II
What, You thought it was over? After all the hype preceding the Tyson-Lewis fight and then having to watch Mike Tyson stumble around the ring in a daze, throwing random "one quitter hitter's," you'd think this thing would be done. Tyson got his ass whipped. But Lennox Lewis still can't get the respect he so desperately wants.

Even Tyson's fiercest critics couldn't dispute that something wasn't quite right about him that night. He looked like he was drugged. No dancing, shadow boxing in the corner, no emotion whatsoever. The look in his eyes said, he didn't know where he was or why these people were sitting around clapping and shouting his name.

In the latest issue of Details magazine, Tyson explains it himself: "During the fight, I said, 'This is not a good night.' I could beat if I was well, but I'm sick right now. And I don't mean physically, I mean emotionally. I just said to myself, if I get another chance, I'll do this properly."

Right. Whatever you say Mike. He hasn't been the same since Don King wedged his hands in his pockets and started chipping away at his management team. Cus D'Amato's death was big, but once his trainer Kevin Rooney got labeled as an evil doer and incompetent by Don King's people, it was over for Mikey T. During the glory days, Rooney used to be in his corner shouting out combinations and giving directions.. like he needed them at all.. one punch from Tyson had the biggest shit talker making stains in his shorts. Check.. Michael Spinks he took one to the chin, realized that he was making millions anyway and dove for the canvas. "Look I can't get up.. and don't try to help me."

Now Tyson's corner is populated with .. umm.. uhh.. yeah.. That's about as much as they say to him during his fights.

What about this rematch? The London Times  reported that Lennox Lewis has signed a $100 million three-fight deal with Showtime. He'll fight two Ukrainians (the Klitschko brothers) with Tyson squeezed in between the two matches - shows you how much they think of Tyson. In any case, before anything jumps off, Mike will have to prove that he has the ability to throw more than one punch at a time.

On December 7th, he'll have a chance to pound on Clifford Etienne, a guy that Details describes as "a 32-year old Louisiana tomato-can with a 24-1-1 record." As if it's given Tyson will smash him. The way he's been fighting, nothing is guaranteed; he's gonna have to be dead ass serious. Take it back to that raw "pound your nose into your brain" warrior. Yeah, right.. Again.

Mike might be feeling the pressure to be that fighter we used to love. His final words in the article say it all: "You know what's more overwhelming than being a champion? To be the people's champion. That's more overwhelming than anything. The title means nothing once the people grasp you in their bosom. That's a curse. You're a part of them now. and they feel like they know you."

Let's Hear it For Mr. Muhammad - 10:53 a.m.
It's a wrap. Police have confirmed that ballistic tests tie the M-16 rifle found in the backseat of John Allen Muhammad's car to the DC area sniper shootings. Not only has he destroyed the lives of thirteen families, but this genius shattered the myth of the serial killer in the process. He's fucking up the status quo. No longer can black comedians jump on stage, joking about "us" not being serial killers. "Black people don't kill just anybody.. unless you've got some money.. white people will eat your ass.. Jeffrey Dahmer... 'mm mm tastes just like chicken.' Heh heh.. that's cause he ate a two piece and a biscuit for breakfast, muhfucka." You know the jokes.

And remember that line in Goodfellas.. "You know who gets caught? Nigger stickup men. You know why Karen? Because they fall asleep in the getaway car, Karen." He is really fucking shit up.. or fucked it up. Some people thought that line was funny/offensive, but now whenever the finger pointers want to prove that it's a true statement, they'll say in a little sing-song.. "Rememberrrr that sniper back in 2002."

Yesterday morning, I woke up and heard helicopters buzzing around outside my house Boyz in the Hood  style. I'm thinking, 'uh oh the sniper done moved up to Brooklyn.' Flipped on the tv and there is John Allen staring me in the face. I didn't know all the details at the time, so my immediate reaction was to think I hope that he's actually the sniper, because this is the first time that they have shown a suspect's face throughout the investigation.. and he's a black man. "This is an outrage.. get Reverend Al on the phone!"

During the next break they went over all of the evidence they'd gathered and there was no denying that this guy was the sniper. Still, I'm thinking.. "Damn, he had to be black." Scratching your head? It's a black thing.. when your "always" the suspect and a high profile case comes up you don't want the guy to be African-American. It just perpetuates the stereotype of black men being criminals. I don't feel like he brought down the race or anything.. it's not that deep. It's just that feeling of "not again." This guy was obviously twitched, he was hitting everybody.. black, white, kids, middle eastern, old people, men, women,.. whoever walked in range of that scope. It's so random, I would really like to know why he did it. What was the point?

Coming into the office yesterday, the reaction was the same across the board: black folks were either saying "damn, he's black" or were in denial "saying it was a set up." Which made me laugh.. you can't set the guy up. Either it was him him or it wasn't. Never mind that all the evidence was linking up, how do you explain it the next day when someone else gets shot.. it's something that you can't fake. It's not like a robbery or a single murder. It was a continuing drama..

On the other hand a lot of people seemed to be confused.. saying literally "they don't look like the type" the politically correct way to say, "he's black?" This was something my grandmother mentioned a few days ago.. you know, she grew up in the civil rights era so even today she's looking for equal rights and all that.. when the newscasters were saying how the sniper could be hispanic, middle-eastern, or most likely a deranged white man. She was like, "what it can't be a black man?".. She actually said, "watch when they find him, he's gonna be black." She's has some crazy theories.. but Big Momma was right about this one.

With that said.. John Allen Muhammad needs to get the maximum penalty: innocent people, a kid, come on. I don't know if I believe in the death penalty, but this guy was shooting folks for no good reason, and if it was someone in my family would I want to stab him with something rusty with a jagged edge? Hell, yeah. Twist it and watch that bitch bleed. That's the emotional response though, guess you gotta follow the law first. There is no way he should ever see the streets again. It's a wrap, son. Life in the hole. Whooo.. life in solitary confinement. Do you know how crazy that is, to spend the rest of your life in a 6 x4 cell with no human contact ever again in life? People lose it down there. I don't know this guy's problem, but how stupid is he? The ten million shit.. remember that. Where are you going with ten million dollars and not being tracked down. Yeah,.. we're gonna live it up in Acapulco. That's dumb as hell. For that alone he needs a good 10 years and a swift kick in the ass. Lock this kat up now. People in the DC area.. pump gas.. go to the malls and eat all you can eat at your local Ponderosas.

In relation to this story, I heard the funniest thing on this talk radio show Ron and Fez. They were talking about the case and Ron said how Denzel can't wait to play Chief Moose when they make the movie. LOL

Chris Childs Gets Jacked in Midtown - 12:57 p.m.
Early Tuesday morning Chris Childs, the former point guard for the NY Knicks, rolled up into Justins. Located on 21st street here in New York City, it's the restaurant Puffy owns and named after his son. Hear the food is pretty good too, haven't been there but the parking lot is always home to some type of luxury vehicle.. could be confirmation.

the restaurant is in the middle of the block and there are two clubs that sandwich it. Cheetahs  where AJ from 106 and Park promotes weekly parties is on one end of the block. The line to get inside is always long. On the weekends it's not an odd sight to see people still waiting to get in at 2:00 a.m. The vibe inside the spot is similar to Nelly's "Hot in Heeere" video. The other club is at the far end of the block.. don't know too much about it. It draws a nice sized crowd, but it's a different demographic ie. no hip-hop.

AJ's spot packs them in though, you heard Jay-Z, "from Club Cheetahs.. to Club Amnesia." So rest assured there are plenty of women in the place, and any spot that draws women is gonna draw even more men. Some who have no thoughts of going inside the club, they hang outside on the block eating grilled rat from the hot dog vendor or just stand around absorbing the atmosphere. And Puffy's spot makes the block even more of an attraction.. So there was Chris Childs at Justins  attending a Birthday party for Jessie Armstead, a linebacker for the NY Giants. As Childs bounced around the restaurant laughing and getting his drink on, the jewels on his neck caught the eye of some dude, who tapped his three partners. They squinted, whispered a few words and kept their eyes on him for the rest of the night.

Around 1:20 a.m., Childs left the party and walked towards the parking lot to get his car. "Not so fast. Give me cash or that's yo ass." .. One of the four guys who had been watching him pulled out a gun, while another ripped off his jewels which included a gold and diamond watch, and a diamond pinkie ring. They also took $800 in cash and his cell phone. It's estimated that the total take was about $30,000.00. The thieves were dumb as hell.. the cops caught two of them at a subway entrance just two blocks away, and grabbed two others who had jumped on the subway tracks. How ironic is it that two days after leaving a restaurant, Chris Childs get suspended from the New Jersey Nets for being overweight? Stay away from steak tar tar and he'll avoid petty theft and lose weight all at once.

Angie Martinez Joins American Idol II
If you've ever wondered why Angie Martinez decided to be a rapper, you might be even more confused about her becoming a judge on American Idol II.

Yes.. it's true the HOT 97 radio host is very close to signing on to join the panel of judges, which will include the returning Simon Cowell, who re-inked earlier this summer, and Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, both of whom re-enlisted last week.

Got to tell you, I didn't watch the first season.. so if this was a move to get a new audience interested in the show they were successful. I'd watch just to see how Angie dishes the criticism. She might be jumping on a sinking ship though.. some critics have pointed out that "American Idol mania" is way below expectations. Howard Cohen from The Miami Herald writes: "..there are signs that people are tuning out. The American Idol: Greatest Moments CD debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 two weeks ago, failing to top retrospectives from Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones. Clarkson's 'A Moment Like This' has lost its hold atop the Billboard Hot 100. The recent American Idols in Vegas TV reunion concert hit a bum note in the ratings; and the tour, which has garnered dreadful reviews, isn't selling out."

A friend of mine, who was all wrapped up in the last show, was upset when Tamyra Gray was voted off. Personally I thought it was the best thing that could happen.. she could come out a year from now and do her thing after the hype has died down. No matter how many people liked that Kelly Clarkson chick, just couldn't see any one running to the store to buy her CD or the mophead Ronald McDonald looking kid. Like that's getting bumped in the ride.

Angie might bring a little flavor to the show and might be a peek into what kind of contestants will be in this year's show. The producers may give it more of an "urban" edge. That seems to be a requirement for any project nowadays.

P Diddy - "Making The Band 2" - 12:57 p.m.
This weekend MTV premiered the reality series Making the Band 2.  When MTV execs saw The Osbournes  rack up Las Vegas numbers in the ratings, they began frantically searching for another star who could duplicate the dysfunctions of the Osbourne clan. The first attempt was with Brandy, following her around during her pregnancy.. which was absolutely thrilling *sarcasm drips from the monitor* To their credit they didn't bite on that horrific Anna Nicole Smith bullshit. What they really wanted was a big name.. a media hound.. someone who is always.. take it away Suge, "all up in videos, all up on the artist's records".. the P the I the D the D.. you know the rest, "it's Diddyyyy."

Personally, I didn't think an Osbourne type show would work with Sean John. First of all he doesn't have a wife and kids or even a Osbourne normal home life. What he does for 20 hours a day is all business. He doesn't sleep. The parties, the trips, the flash, it's all a part of maintaining the businesses which provide him with the dough to jet ski off the coast of St. Tropez with a designer bathrobe on.

Regarding Making the Band 2  he says: "I thought it would give people a good chance to to understand what I do every day. I've never been interested in doing any cheesy reality show or Osbournes  or anything that would overexpose me more than I'm already overexposed. This thing is real." In the introduction to the show, Puff mentions how Bad Boy makes stars.. like Biggie, Total, Faith, Mase, 112.. and so on. Notice anything there? All of those artists, including Puff, benefited in a huge way from Christopher Wallace. So much so that it's hard to see Puff living it up the way he is today without him. That doesn't discount Puff's influence, they had a symbiotic relationship. With Jordan and Pippen the Chicago Bulls won 6 titles, but do they do it without Phil Jackson?

Consider that until Phil Jackson came into the picture, Jordan was blinded by his own magnificence, thinking he had to win games by himself - what teammates? On the other hand, Phil Jackson wins nothing without Jordan. You need something to work with.. that's why with Kobe and Shaq on board, he jumped at the chance to coach the Lakers. With Jackson's guidance they stopped bumping heads and have rings to show for it. You need people with talent and good management to win in any team focused endeavor. That's what Biggie and Puff meant to each other. Big was focused strictly on being grimy until Puff showed him that he could win by being dirty and Big Poppa and still rep Brooklyn. Without Biggie.. Puff is Phil Jackson, looking for a team to coach.

Making the Band 2  is mostly about staying in the spotlight, but he hopes to find someone that wants to and can be a star. Good luck. When talent walks in off the street, it's a good guesstimate that more than 75% of the people don't have what it takes to really  be a star. It's more than being able to put together a verse or two, and honestly some aspiring artists can't even do that. You gotta start somewhere though.. so while Puff, in flash mode, skipped of on "vacation," Harve Pierre his VP (?) made some decisions about who, from a couple hundred people would make it to the next stage to see Puff.

Out the those Harve Pierre chose.. and the few they actually showed clips of, three stood out: Tandalena, this chick from Detroit. From the short spot you can't tell how well she sings, but she has "the look." Then there's Mysterious aka Kimberly Burke.. who Puff said sounded like Scarface(?) After her audition she commented, "Everybody was just staring at me, like there wasn't no emotion. So I was just like, 'oh, I messed up.'" They were probably looking at her little wife beater and the thick belly. Missy made it, but she's gonna have to work that out. Then there was Chopper, whose skills were a little shaky.. umm, he had a nice afro going for him. If none of this sounds very encouraging just know.. they left out a lot, and I'll quote Puff: "There's not much to work with here."

At the end of the audition someone on the staff told Puff he'd have to tell the contestants who would have to go home. He got all shook and cheese grinned, "I got being here when you do that? That ain't in my muthafucking contract.. aww man.. How do they take it?" He finally called them in and gave a speech about not taking it personal and not being the end of the road. In other words, keep hope alive. Zakiya heard him but she took it very hard.. and personal. During her audition she threw her head back, just singing her heart out for .. 10 seconds. "Thank you. Next!" Cut off. She didn't make it and as you can see, she needed a hug. It's a rough business.

Christie Love Walking Through Heaven's Gate
Who is this fine, absolutely delicious looking, lip smackingly, drool inducing, black woman? It's Teresa Graves also known to your momma as Christie Love. She was a regular on Rowan & Martins's Laugh In (a 70's sketch comedy show.)

She also starred in the film Get Christie Love! where she played the first black woman to be hired by a big-city police force. Christie proves that she's got weight by smashing a drug ring Pam Grier style. The movie went on to become a tv series that ran from ran from September 11, 1974 to July 18, 1975.

On October 10th, at the young age of 54, Teresa Graves was the victim of a fire that swept through her home in the Hyde Park district of Los Angeles, California. The fire sparked off in her bedroom, where she was found unconscious.

Fire investigators say the blaze which began at around 12:30 a.m. was apparently started by a faulty space heater in the bedroom (at this time of the year? In LA?) A smoke detector in the front of the house went off, but failed to awake her. ..
It's said that she abandoned her acting career in 1983 when she turned down numerous roles which conflicted with her religion - Jehovah's Witness.

The Real Slim Zadie - 12:28 p.m.
Two weeks ago I was riding the subway and saw the latest issue of Vibe Magazine propped up at the newsstand. As with most magazines, it would usually would be the artist on the cover that would catch my eye. This time however it was the name of one of the writers that stood out: Zadie Smith. She wrote the Eminem article, but she's far more than a music journalist. Here's a 26 year old woman who has written two novels. The first one White Teeth  was written when she was just 24 years old. With 80 pages of an unfinished manuscript, she snagged a book deal for White Teeth  and went on to receive worldwide acclaim.

A quick sample: 'The outstanding debut of the new millennium' Observer.. 'Funny, clever ... and a rollicking good read' Independent.. 'Do believe the hype, buy into it, curl up with it, savour every sentence, then turn around and reread it' The Times.. 'An astonishingly assured debut' Salman Rushdie.. 'Don't be afraid of the future with someone this talented in it' ID

She has a new book out now called The Autograph Man.  I do my best to read a wide variety of books, magazines, etc.. the latest being a book published in 1964 called Understanding Media  by Marshall McLuhan. It's a book that attempts to track the ways that technological progress has changed society. Not some normal shit.. yet, I still can't grip my fingers around one of Zadie Smith's books.

It's not a lack of trying. I've been to the bookstore and flipped through White Teeth  five or six times, but I just can't get into it. I'll keep trying, it might take a a month or two.. but if necessary I'll force myself to read it. Reason being, here's a young black British woman (Jamaican and Irish mix) who is being heralded as the next big thing in literature. When you think of great black female writers, there is often a path leading to the past with names like Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Zora Neale Hurston popping up. It would be nice to witness a "great writer" who's doing the damn thing in the present day.

Zadie Smith is currently living in the United States.. guess that's how she got the Vibe assignment.. she's here attending classes at Harvard's Radcliffe Institue for Advanced Study. Some critics feel that The Autograph Man  is a disappointment as a sophomore effort, but you won't hear her bitching about it. In an Entertainment Weekly interview she says that her father doesn't like it either, adding "Oh well." She doesn't think that she's that big of a deal and considers her books to be a work in progress. She signed the photographer's copy of the book with the inscription, "HOPE YOU CAN FIND SOME WAY 2 ENJOY THIS!"

Eventually, I'll find some way to enjoy it. It's the little things about her that will peak my curiosity enough to leap that "what the f* is this" fence to clinking down some change at the cash register. In this interview in Bold Type she comments: "I never attended a creative writing class in my life. I have a horror of them; most writers groups moonlight as support groups for the kind of people who think that writing is therapeutic. Writing is the exact opposite of therapy. The best, the only real training you can get is from reading other people's books." And in a Face to Face with Penguin UK she breaks down a thought/person/inspiration for every letter in the alphabet, from A-Z

Biggie and Tupac, Kafka, and Arthur Freed.. that's hip-hop, bold and capitalized. Oh, and since I jacked their title, here's the Entertainment Weekly interview.

The Sniper Strikes.. Again
The sick bastard who's running around the Virginia/Maryland area struck again today. This time killing a woman standing right next to her husband. After last week's shootings and with nothing happening over the weekend, I don't know what I expected.. for him to stop? be satisfied? I don't know, but hearing this morning that he "went back to work" is really sad. What a joke this guy is. Where's the pleasure in gunning down innocent people?

The crazy thing is, these people don't stand a chance. It's one and done, one shot, one kill.. no chance to run or even duck. This latest shooting took place at a mall in Falls Church, Virginia at 9:15 p.m. Witnesses say that they saw a blue car with a "religious symbol" cruising around the parking lot. One person said that when the driver got cut off, he made a shooting gesture in the person's direction. Police haven't tied him to the shooting.

The fatal shot came from a van that witnesses described as cream colored with a broken left taillight. This is the same type of van that was seen fleeing the scene in the other cases.. how he's getting away is beyond me. He's got to be dipping into the bat cave somewhere, hiding it in the woods, and probably right under their noses. One things for sure, he's not pushing it down the freeway. Police have been shutting down the highways, checking cars.. but you got to think that this guy is long gone by the time they get things together.

Due to the accuracy of his shooting, people have theorized that the shooter an ex-military soldier. And for the first time someone has id'd the shooter as having "olive skin." Kinda makes you think Middle Eastern which would raise the eyebrows of people who've had ideas that this might be terrorist related.

These "witnesses" could be making things up too. After something happens everyone has a story and saw something, and often times the information doesn't add up. In the same story, another person said that the guy had on a blue jacket and blue jeans, but didn't describe how he looked. How can you see his clothing, head to toe and not be able to accurately describe his facial characteristics?

I'm thinking that the authorities know more than they're giving to the media. Which would be the right thing to do.. the first few days, with the hour by hour reports, they were just feeding this guys ego and giving him all the information he needed to do the opposite of what they were looking for. You could picture the dude.. sitting, eating a bologna sandwich, and laughing while watching CNN.

Listening to the radio last week, someone called in who claimed to be ex-military and has put down a few bodies, he suggested that they put snipers on his trail.. a sniper to hunt a sniper, because they would think in the same way. .. ala Enemy at the Gates. Which he said was an 'okay' representation of the truth.

Think anyone will be at that mall tonight? Not only is this sniper terrifying people and disrupting the local businesses.. there is a movie called Phone Booth  starring Colin Farrel to be released on November 15th. It's about a guy trapped in a phone booth by a sniper who promises to pierce his skull with a bullet if he leaves the phone booth. The release date is being pushed back due to the current situation.

Alicia Douvall says Diddy's the Daddy - 12:03 p.m.
The People, a British magazine/newspaper is reporting that P.Diddy aka Sean Combs has impregnated Alicia Douvall. If your like me your thinking, 'Who is Alicia Douvall?' In the article they describe her as a "celebrity man-eater" and "the posh model with 32EE breasts." In searching for more information on this chick it appears that she does "get around" and loves to talk to the tabloids. On firmhandspanking.com (hey.. that's what came up in the search) they write "private-school educated Alicia Douvall, was the guest of honor at a London party with Simply Red popstar Mick Hucknall. Revelations in a tabloid newspaper, confirmed by a candid photo from the party, show that Alicia, 23, was happy to have her bare bottom publicly spanked by the 41-year-old British music star."

"The full-page story in the News of the World newspaper on September 16, 2001, also claimed that Alicia bedded the middle-aged musician – but not before her bottom had been turned a glowing red from his spanking."

More recently, in the June 16, 2002 edition of The South African Sunday Times, they write "Celebrity groupie Alicia Douvall, who led the millionaire left-back into a threesome with a brunette called Nina, told Britain's News of the World before the game: 'After a night with Baba I fancy England's chances even more. He's very eager early on but he doesn't have any finishing power.. When he took his boxers off I had to catch my breath,' said 23-year-old Douvall. 'It wasn't so much a lunchbox as the full picnic hamper. I imagine something that enormous is bound to hamper your running.' 'It's just a shame he couldn't put his attributes to better use. Still, he does have one or two decent ideas . . . most of them involving chocolate sauce.'"

The millionaire they're talking about is a Nigerian soccer/football player named Celestine Babayaro, she was eventually dumped by Babayaro, just weeks after they met, when he claimed she cheated on him with Shaggy. .. So now you have an idea of who she is.. haha.. unless you want to add in that her 32EE breasts have been enlarged from 32FF to 32GG. They now have valves so she can have more saline water pumped in, or out, to vary their size. She describes them as being "fantastic."

In regards to P Diddy, she tells The People how he plied her with exotic drinks and whispered his "sexual fantasies" in her ear. Then he "made 'amazing' love to her over a mixing desk at his recording studio." Days later she's said to have left a message on his cellphone saying that she was pregnant and he was the father: "There's no way it could be anyone else but Puffy's baby and I know he'll make a great father to our child."

How she would know that she was pregnant after just a few days makes me think this story is BS, and why no rubber, but she continues.. "I've tried to reach him to tell him the good news but have only been able to leave a message on his mobile.. We had an amazing night making love. The strange thing was, I never thought I'd end up pregnant. I was so drunk and carried away by the fact I was with P Diddy that I didn't even consider contraception. He really flattered me saying that he was the lucky one to be with me and that I was the beautiful, special one."

So there you have it.. a little Monday madness. Thanks to Sniper from the UK for the heads up.

Erick Sermon Does The Tap Dance - 12:07 p.m.
It was around this time last year that allegations that Erick Sermon leaped from a window began to circulate. For those that don't remember.. initially there were conflicting reports: one said it was a suicide attempt and the second said that he was in a car accident - one tv station even showed a wrecked black car as proof. But Fox 5 news in NY obtained a quote from a woman who said that she looked outside her third-floor apartment window and there he was, laid out on the sidewalk.

XXL later got the details.. the woman's name was Attiya Barrett, a self-described born-again Christian "deeply involved in the Pentecostal church." She met Erick while vacationing in Miami's South Beach.. A New Jersey resident, she claimed to had met Erick while vacationing in Miami's South Beach.. They had exchanged numbers and Erick had come to visit her that night. In the article she mentions that he asked if she had any "billies" around, which besides having a homosexual ring to it, was just his way of asking if she had any jealous boyfriends in the cut - a question that she says he repeated again and again. Later that night Erick was in her bedroom sleeping [she says they didn't and never have had sex] when a boyfriend of one of her friends had come to the door questioning Attiya about her girlfriend's whereabouts. Shouting and yelling ensued, but the guy never entered the apartment. When she returned, Erick was gone.. she popped her head out the window.. and flat as a pancake was E Dub.

He was in the hospital for a short period of time with a nice little head wound. His publicists never gave a full explanation and Erick who refused to comment in the first weeks after the accident, later told Angie Martinez, a host of NY radio station HOT 97, that he had slipped and fell in the tub.

At the time of that incident Erick was about to release a solo album, which was getting a nice push from the lead Marvin Gaye laced single "Music." With Sermon not able to promote the album it flopped. Here we are a year later, and although not as strong he's got a decent lead single with a record called "React" which, again, is leading up to a solo album due November 19th.

On Wednesday Erick Sermon was up at HOT 97, laughing it up with Angie Martinez.. I mean seriously having people slapping knees and spitting up their sodas. In their day, EPMD, while they had a rough image, I always heard them cracking mad jokes, snapping continuously. Despite Parrish's absence, Erick was continuing that tradition. They were having a good ol time.. until Angie asked him about the incident in New Jersey.

He didn't come right out and get offended.. he continued to laugh and just danced all around the questions. When asked if he knew who Attiya Barrett was, he said, "yeah, that's the girl singing on my new record." Which is obviously not true, it's a sample from an indian record ala Truth Hurts. When asked if he was sticking with the slip and fall in the tub story he said, "I fell in the tub B.. this is how it's gonna be man, I got a new tub." All of this was said lightheartedly. Angie kept hitting him with questions, "Yeah, but yo E, they had pictures and everything of like her window.. the window that she said you jumped out of.." He responded by saying, "there's a window right.. but there was no witnesses, no crime scene, no blood, there was no nothing." He then went on to explain that after all of the stories started coming out, he didn't want to get into it. People were gonna say what they wanted to say, and that was it, he was cool with it. Then he did that Def Comedy thing.. ".. I had fame for the moment [with the window thing], my album was gonna boost up. I was gonna sell a million copies, cause of the hype. People pay for hype like that.. my came free and I still didn't sell." Angie tried again, telling him that he should talk about the situation.. "cause nobody's buying the bathtub story." His response: "Even if I tell them what happened it still ain't gonna matter, this is how it's gonna be.. they gonna think this.. but there's nothing to the allegations to put me in that situation. They don't have nothing.. everything they showing.. everything is blank."

.. he continues "I wanna keep it gangsta on your show. Cause this is real.. it really was nothing, I don't care how they looked at it, where they was coming from." Angie interrupts.. "But you never really said what it was though." E: "Cause it wasn't that serious" Angie: "Did you jump out of the window?" E: "I couldn't have. No." Angie:"You didn't jump out the window.. did you know this girl, were you in there?" E, with more jokes: "I told you the girl is the girl from the record." Angie throws up her hands: "I'm not not talking to this guy anymore, man."

I gotta give it to Angie, she tried to get the story, but for some reason Erick refuses to talk about it. Some people may think that it's none of anyone's business, but that's the downside of being a celebrity. Along with the fancy cars, the phat houses, the platinum jewelry, VIP status, and the screaming fans.. comes the spotlight on every little thing you do. Fucked up ain't it? Ask J.LO she can't do a damn thing without someone jumping out with a camera or a report in a newspaper about what she ate for dinner the night before. In E's case.. his story isn't as trivial. The guy was said to have jumped out the window and cracked his head open, or was it a car accident, or was it a slip, was it a suicide attempt, was he on tour, where was he, who's that chick..? Instead of clearing things up, he says yall believe whatever you want to believe.. it was nothing. So we gotta make shit up now.. I won't even do that. One things for sure, until he decides to give his side of the story.. he'll be known as that guy that believed he could fly.

Despite that blip in his career, the resume is still on shiny paper: the first, second, and third albums.. classics. Had to add that in.. don't sleep on EPMD history. P.Diddy owes them for jump starting both his and Jodeci's career when he sampled EPMD's "Your a Customer" for the "Come and Talk to Me" joint, and E's production work after the EPMD breakup filled his wall with those gold and platinum plaques. Alright.. now that that's out of the way.. What really happened, man?

Hip-Hop Blasphemy Pt.2.. it Get's Deeper - 12:35 p.m.
This was posted yesterday, but just to consolidate things.. "Seems like Tupac wasn't the only one to get jacked.. Wendy Williams just had Toni Braxton on the show. Toni revealed that she had/has(?) a song on her new album produced by Irv Gotti called "Boyfriend." It was finished back in June and was scheduled to be her second single. Allegedly, someone at Def Jam got a hold of the song and gave it to Jay-Z. He listened to it and decided to use it for himself - The Big Jack Move."

That was 19 hours ago.. now I'm wondering just how far this is gonna go. Jay-Z has personally admitted that his past has been littered with drug dealing and hustling, basically doing what it takes to get the dough. Although the "customers" of that business make the decisions to buy the product on their own, the fact that they are killing themselves in the process is unquestionable. A dealer in some way helps them towards that slow death by supplying them with the poison. Ha ha.. I'm pushing it here.. but follow me. Could Jay's recent misfortune: the album with R Kelly that was shot down by the tape scandal and basically ruined the summer's concert schedule (they would have sold out every city in the country), and now the apparent decision to squeeze out Toni Braxton and "steal her mojo" which might backfire and possibly cause a backlash towards his new album, is this karma from the 80's coming to bite him in the ass?

I said I was stretching it.. :P The amount of damage Toni Braxton's claims do to the successful popping off of Blueprint 2  will be determined by how heavily the media carries this story and the way people react to it. Some folks have frowned about the song in the first place, but for it to possibly be jacked is just sad.

I was disappointed that Jay would even decide to remake a Tupac song, and then he strips the song of all it's substance.. like slicing off a piece of cake and only licking the frosting off the edges. He reduced it to a meaningless piece of trash. Not that Toni Braxton's version was a better idea, neither one of them should have been remaking it. If I would have saw Toni Braxton dancing around in a video singing about her "Boyfriend" it would have still been wack. The ethics of r&b are different than hip-hop, especially today.. and r&b artists reaching for that hip-hop edge is the norm. Jay-Z however is in the game, considered to be at the top of his game and shouldn't have to resort to remaking another rappers song. Wanna do a throwback joint.. how about doing "Ill Street Blues" with Kool G Rap. At least he's alive, hasn't thrown darts at you, and for some reason.. I just have that lazy piano sample in my head at the moment.

Wendy Williams coming back to NYC has been a great thing for disgruntled artists. Where previously they would have had nowhere to go public with their complaints, they now have a wide open door to the stage. Which is a great thing, for the sake of both sides of a story getting out. Had it not been for Wendy, the 3LW/Naturi situation would have never gotten out as raw as it was.. chicken dinners in the face and all. We would have read the official 3LW explanation and lived with it. And as far as this.. would Toni Braxton have been able to convince any of the other NYC radio stations to let her vent and actually play the song?

The Def Jam offices had to be buzzing yesterday, 2-ways going off.. "Toni Braxton's on Wendy.. shit. that bitch played the record." Now we sit and wait for an explanation from Jay-Z, Def Jam, somebody to give their side of this dispute. No one from the Roc has ever gone up to Wendy's show, which is a tactical error if you ask me. It's that old saying, "You keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

What?. you still haven't heard Toni Braxton's version.. well listen to it - download it (RealAudio)

Hip-Hop Blasphemy - 1:03 p.m.
Roc Radio didn't go down this week; Dame Dash and the Roc La Familia are still in Europe. Here is a quick Roc related story though..

Last week, I caught some 4x6 car speakers for $20 in one of the Wiz outlets that closed due to their shrinking bottom line. Saturday afternoon, I spent a couple of hours ripping out the dash of my jeep and fitting the speakers in place. Gotta say, it's sounding nice, and to get a pair of $80 speakers for a single Andrew Jackson was ahite.

I did the work at this gas station on Bushwick Ave, right next door is a car wash, so of course you get nuff people coming through, chrome spinnin, and knockin their systems.. I can't count the amount of times that I heard Jay-Z's voice drifting out of some car or truck laced over an acoustic guitar laden track. It was obviously new, but I couldn't figure if it was from a mixtape joint or off the Paid in Full  soundtrack. Steph Lova, who some people may now know as the chick who Funkmaster Flex allegedly pimp slapped two weeks ago, sat in for Dame Dash during "The Roc Hour." One of the songs she played was that Jay-Z joint.. turns out it's called "Bonnie and Clyde," a duet between he and Beyonce.

How sick do you think Foxy Brown is? Somebody keep an eye on her, cause she might hit the pill bottle again. Jay and Beyonce have been hangin out, but how did they become Bonnie and Clyde tight? Or was is "it" that tight, that he lost his mind. The outrage isn't the collab with Beyonce, it's the chorus of the song - he completely jacks Tupac's "Me and My Girlfriend." It has the guitars running through it, not an exact replica, but similar sounding, and the chorus is phazed out and drifting. If I'm not mistaken, Tupac had no love for Jay-Z. The exact words to the intro of "Bomb First (my second reply)" are, "Jay-Z from Hawaiian Sophie fame.. and several other corny sounding mutherfuckers are understandably shaken up by this release."

Now that's not Tupac's voice and maybe it was inserted after his death, but that's not known.. What is known and what's last documented is that he had no love for Big, Big's crew, or anyone surrounding him. That would include Jay-Z. Personally, I feel some of Tupac's venom was misguided and his anger was going towards the wrong people. Just a shotgun blast of words hitting folks that weren't even involved in the beef. Jay probaly feels that way. He had no problems with him, so figures it's okay to scrape up one of his old songs.

No. No and NO How do you extend an olive branch to a dead man. Let him rest in peace.

But here he goes choosing to remake one of Tupac's songs like they were old pals. That's dumb. And it's really a cheap imitation of the original.. it went from a dual meaning of love for a woman and a gun, to a fake Bonnie and Clyde scenario with Beyonce. I like Beyonce, you see the wallpaper and she did her thing in Austin Powers  but she's far from a Bonnie.. doesn't that mean that she is so tight with dude that she'll ride with him to the end, going out in a blaze of gunfire if necessary. Yeah, that's realistic.

This is the first song from The Blueprint 2. A few months ago, he was talking about his new album in The Source, saying how he's expanding his subject matter and he hopes people step up with him, and one of the producers said that it had a harder edge than the first Blueprint album. Well, this must have been one of the throwaway tracks cause it's not hard and it's not deep. Another thought.. did Suge have to approve this in any way? I'm not sure if publishing rights are required for a chorus jack and Tupac's mother might own a portion of it. In any case, Beyonce plus Jay-Z means a video will soon follow, and as I witnessed on Saturday - extensive radio play. People have been talking about Tupac coming back from the grave for the longest - actually they say he's sipping fruity drinks down in Cuba with Fidel Castro. It's a pretty sure thing that he's dead, but if this doesn't get him to kicking and screaming from the heavens nothing will.

Listen to it here.. or download it (Realaudio 1.5 mb) *the sound is kinda scratchy and f-ed up.. but it wont be the last time it's heard.

Usher Does the Gaye Thing
In a similar, less controversial way, Entertainment Weekly  reports that Usher will take a step into the past to recreate a performance by Marvin Gaye on an old American Bandstand  show. American Bandstand  was a dance show that Dick Clark made into a pop culture institution. The producers of the NBC show American Dreams  have been recruiting young artists and having them give classic performances from American Bandstand  a new look.

Usher, who has taken to calling himself Mr. Entertainment, has some big shoes to fill. The show's producers plan to recreate a 1963 performance of the hit song, "Can I Get a Witness." Am I the only one who couldn't hum two bars of that record? In preparation for the show, Usher has been watching old footage and listening to other Marvin Gaye songs recorded during the era.

You can't tell U.R. that he' not the man for the job. He's confident of his abilities and is hoping that it will lead to a lead role in an upcoming biopic. He says, "People will get a chance to see my love for Marvin Gaye.. They go very far to make it as authentic as can be. I can be Marvin Gaye."

New Aaliyah CD - 4:08 p.m.
Watching Ashanti's "Happy" video this morning and got to thinking how successful she would have been if Aaliyah was still with us. Then a few minutes ago I read this in the Hollywood Reporter

"-- A posthumous CD is planned for Aaliyah, the singer and actress who died in a plane crash in August 2001.

The as-yet-untitled new CD, due to be released by Blackground Records and Universal in November, will feature some new Aaliyah songs, as well as old hits such as "Try Again" and remixes of other songs. The new tracks, according to Blackground, are a mix of up-tempo numbers and ballads the 22-year-old singer recorded before her death, Time.com reported Saturday."

Black Santa says, "maybe I'll put this in your Christmas stocking or stuff it in your turkey. Some a yall muthas have a serious problem with your sugar levels, all hyper wit no patience. Can't wait til December 25th? Pull a greasy cd out the ass of a hot bird and you'll wish you had. Ho ho.. HO where's my money?"

L.adies L.ove Michael Ealy - 1:10 p.m.
In the days before Michael Jordan began dominating the basketball court and the image of his gleaming, bald head graced tv screens all across the country.. the type of guys women found attractive were of the latte variety. Light skinned brothers were the shit. MJ helped to sway the tide towards those brothers with a more mocha tone in their complexion and soon light-skinned brothers found themselves standing on the outside of the velvet ropes of Club Silky Panties. Al B Sure, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson.. ahhh! those were the days.

Pierre' a comedian who remembers those times and is a member of the light-skinned posse himself, has been commenting for years about the sad state of his crew, but he saw better days ahead. "Light-skinned brothers ain't in no more.. but that's alright we gonna make a comeback," he joked. ..Hah! Jokes. That's right, please don't take that light/dark thing too serious. I think making preferences based strictly on skin color, especially within the African-American race itself, is ridiculous. With that said, Michael Ealy.. who plays the thug in Barbershop will have Pierre' getting real excited.. praising the dude like he's the second-coming of Jesus, cause judging by women's reaction to his on screen performance, light-skinned brothers might be able to make that comeback after all. "All hail, the savior is here."

For anyone who hasn't seen Barbershop,  Ealy is a major part of the movie and has a strong presence. From the first time you see him on-screen, you raise the eyebrow like, 'who is this that?' He's a thug who breaks the stereotype, displaying a level of intelligence that surprised some people with the twinkling of his brain cells. I wouldn't say he was Cornel West deep, but his dialogue was richer than, "Nah mean.. Yo.. and Ohhhhh, that's gangsta."

It's a movie character, but the performance has followed him off the screen, and women are now drooling at the sight of the "thug/intellectual." This morning on the NBC Morning news, Linda Lopez (J.LO's sister.. seriously) interviewed him and was just kinda grinning through the whole thing. She and another anchor woman were looking at him like they were trying to figure him out, all curious, hanging on his every word. One of the male anchors said, "You guys are hypnotized." and they just kinda laughed like school girls.

Yesterday, Michael Ealy was on The Wendy Williams Experience (a NY radio program that can also be heard online at wblsi.com) The second he walked through the door she began undressing and feeling him up with her eyes. Yeah, it's radio.. but "Mama's" purr said it all. Listen to the interview here or download it (realaudio 1.2 mb)

Bill O'Reilly Strikes Again - 12:58 p.m.
This past June, Jim Henson Productions announced that they would begin work on a holiday special called A Very Very Muppet Christmas. The two-hour special was to include appearances by Michael Caine, William H. Macy, Snoop Dogg, Carson Daly, Jon Stewart, Kelly Ripa and Rachel Hunter, among others.

Last week Bill O'Reilly took notice of the list of scheduled celebrities.. and when he did, he almost spit up his cafe latte.. "Snoop Dogg?!?!. Oh Hell NO!" On September 27th, he began his show with this teaser, "Tonight... The O'Reilly Factor is on... What the heck is rapper Snoop Dog doing in a Muppet Christmas special?! Should a guy who has also been in porn films, was recently cleared of a murder charge and has a past filled with violence, really be appearing in a program designed for little kids?" (Yes, he did spell his name wrong.)

Like the Ludacris/Pepsi thing, the people in charge at Jim Henson Productions bowed down before any debate about Snoop's appearance could get started. Almost immediately, they announced that they had sliced 30 minutes from the show, and Snoop's cameo would be a part of the deleted scenes.

The press release reads: "As commonly occurs during this stage of production, we have had to cut several scenes originally planned for the movie which did not advance its storyline. Unfortunately, one of the scenes we have had to cut was a brief appearance by the talented artist Snoop Dogg. We are very proud of this TV movie and are confident that it will be a highlight of the holiday season."

Funny how Snoop's part of the show was determined to "not advance the storyline" right after Bill O'Reilly expressed his dissatisfaction with their choice of rapper. Mike Cheka, who alerted me to the Ludacris situation in August, feared that his might happen.. he commented, "what would make anyone think his efforts will stop here. Is Fabolous next for Reebok? Why stop there? Let's cancel Usher's contract with Twix because he worked with the Neptunes...which means he endorses Ludacris because he also worked with the Neptunes."

No doubt the successful lobbying against Ludacris encouraged O'Reilly to comment on the Snoop thing. This could be unrelated, but it looks like things are starting to snowball. Yesterday in a congressional hearing, some lawyers representing the music industry were trying to gather support for their anti-internet piracy efforts. Committee chairman Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., leaned into them, saying that they need to be just as concerned about the explicit lyrics in the music. "Your representatives come into my office on a regular basis asking for assistance in fighting Internet piracy and other matters important to your industry's bottom line, and don't get me wrong, I agree with your argument -- stealing is wrong; it is immoral -- but so is marketing explicit content to our youth."

Yup, no one is happy that rap has the world by the balls. What's disturbing.. going back to Bill O'Reilly.. is how quickly these people cave in as soon as the slightest amount of pressure is applied. All O'Reilly has to do is mention their names, point it out to his audience and the person in question heads for the hills - the loyalty to these hip-hop artists is practically non existent. Do you really believe that the people who called up Snoop don't know what he's done or what he's about? They're probaly still bumping The Chronic.

It's like there's this big party going on in Beverly Hills, invited guests are Snoop, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and 50 Cent. Everyone is having fun and laughing it up. Then police show up at the door and ask the host "Do you know these people?" Referring to Dre and them.. Their eyes open wide, knees start knocking for no good reason, it's just a question.. but they know these guys have a rep. "No. Not at all. They just kinda showed up officer. uh.. yeah." As they're taken away in handcuffs for some bogus charge, the hosts kinda smile and say, "Heh..sorry." No speaking up or nothing.. like they never knew you. Shows you who your friends really are. Will that be the next thing.. "This week on The O'Reilly Factor.  Why are these rappers being invited to the Grammys and hanging out with movie stars, they're all criminals."

For more info on Bill O'Reilly check out the official fox site.. or even better O'Reilly Sucks.Com

Shawn Fanning Speaks About Online Music - 1:28 p.m.
In 1999, Shawn Fanning created a small program to exchange mp3 files between a few of his friends. A few months later he created a website and christened his creation Napster. Little did he know the impact it would have.. millions of downloads later, with people's hard drives stuffed to the gills, it captured the attention of music industry execs who weren't happy with the free exchange of their music. Immediately the legal pit bulls went on the attack and Napster was torn to shreds. From ashy to classy to fighting for their life; as you can see, the pit bulls won, Napster is no more.

In today's Wall Street Journal, Shawn Fanning does a Q&A about the state of the online music industry:

WSJ: Since you created Napster in 1999, many clones have appeared on the Internet, including Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster. The music and movie industries are now suing the creators of all three. Recording companies are even considering legal action against the biggest users of file-sharing services. Do you think Internet-based piracy can be stopped in the courts?

Shawn Fanning: You can’t stop technology. Even if they succeed in shutting down those particular services, new services will spring up. It’s the nature of the Internet. I think the [industry’s] approach of providing a limited catalog of music, providing services that are significantly below the consumer’s expectations, and then simultaneously scaring them from trying to do what they want is the wrong approach. They really need to try to determine what are the core things that people really love and respect from a music service and make sure they satisfy those needs.

WSJ: Compact disc shipments fell 7% in the first six months of this year. The recording industry says its data show consumers who download music from the Internet are purchasing fewer CDs. Do you agree that the Internet-based music services are hurting the music industry?

Fanning: It may be hurting the music industry at this point, but my view is when consumers have the ability to learn about new and interesting music — and the barrier is lowered in a way that gives them control over how they experience it — I think those are positive things. As Napster grew and ultimately hit its peak, if you look at CD sales [they] were up as long as Napster was popular. The point at which Napster started filtering (blocking out certain songs after a court order in March 2001) is the point at which the record industry announced that this constant increase in their CD sales suddenly changed.

This article is also on msnbc.. you can continue reading the story there.

Roc Radio.. Introducing Peedi Crack
Last week I said I'd ride this Roc Radio thing until the wheels fell off. After this past Sunday's show, although the cars still running, looking in the rear mirror I thought I saw a hubcap spin off and smash into the curb. It was one of the weakest shows yet. The majority of it was music, things you've heard before. Which is what radio is about, however we're talking about Senor Dash.. ain't no need for him to have an hour long show if he's gonna do regular dj thing.

I'll give him a pass.. after all he's not supposed to be doing this at all. It's funny though, now he's telling people to call up the station and ask that the show be longer: 9 p.m. - 11 p.m. Can you say overkill?

Since the show was lite on the sauce, the clip will consist of this brief "interview" with Peedi Crack, a new artist from Beanie Sigel's side of town. Those quotes around the word interview are highly necessary.. cause it's barely that. Maybe it's because he's a new artist and isn't used to being interviewed, that, and Dame's lame questions.. he knows everything about the guy so it's like he doesn't know what to ask him. So why even post it? Believe me, I wasn't. Then I picked up XXL and saw the guys picture.. had this audio, so it's a no-brainer to give you something extra to go with your reading material.

For those of you without soundcards.. he's 22 years old, a Latino, from North Philly, got put on through Sparks of State Property, and gets questioned by Dame Dash for wearing a NY Giants throwback jersey with an Atlanta baseball hat. "I not trying to snap.. I gotta wear the same team hat and the same team jersey, but just let me know what the rules are. I'm a little older.." Peedi's answer: "I got no comment on that."

I gotta laugh at that.. I'm picturing the guy sitting there, feeling played.

Before you go ahead and listen to this.. this dude's main heat right now is a song called "One for Peedi Crack" which is included, but got chopped in the middle of his verse. I'm using cassettes, these things happen. He had a chance to redeem himself with a freestyle that is way average. Wasn't feeling it at all.. in any case with all the flaws and such, just consider this clip as sugar for your cereal.

Listen to it or Download It (Realaudio 1.3 mb)