Wendy Williams / Whitney Houston Interview - 1:08 p.m.
The past few months, Wendy Williams has been on a hitting streak: she has interviewed J.LO, Mary, Mariah and now.. Whitney Houston. I was surprised to hear that Whitney had agreed to go on her show, maybe she was really ready to confront her demons. Demons meaning allegations of drug use and all.. do I even have to explain that? Nope.
Whitney handled herself well when Diane Sawyer confronted her about those big questions.. "Do you use drugs?" "How's your relationship with Bobby?" "blah, blah, blah.." Yeah, she gave some crazy answers, but nothing like what happened yesterday.

They were feeling each other out in the beginning, Wendy's doing what she does, she asks the big question: if she's using drugs and Whitney lost it. Any pretense that was there was erased. She told Wendy not to speak to her like she was a child and from that point was letting f*ck bombs fly, laying out sh*ts, all the stuff that'll get you bleeped on the airwaves. Any artist that agrees to go on Wendy's Show knows exactly what she's about: she's gonna get straight to the scandalicious stuff. All those rumors and things, she's gonna get to them.. she's dying to get to them. That's her M.O. It's sad that Whitney reacted one way with Diane Sawyer and when it came to Wendy she's on some, "I'll meet you outside."

I think Whitney's aim from jump was, "I'm gonna set that bitch straight." Wendy had dished a lil gossip about her the previous day and with Wendy's high profile interviews of late, thought it was the perfect time to jump in the mix. Someone at her label should have put a hold on that. She is Whitney though.. and she's gonna do what she wants. I can see her publicity people now.. hoping against hope that things go alright. So much for that.

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The Bucs Win the Super Bowl: Stocks Rise - 1:38 p.m.
It was a sad, sad night as I watched the Raiders get totally blindsided by a marauding bunch of wild men named the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I'm not gonna sit here and say that I've been a Buc fan for years, or even for a weekend. My interest in football extends as far as the latest football pool circulating in the office. I picked the Raiders to win, it was based on how they kicked the Jets around.

Know statistical analysis involved, it was an emotional pick; the Raiders beat the Jets. If your hometown team gets knocked out of the playoffs, at least you can say they were beat by the World Champions. Kinda like catching a bad one from Mike Tyson or Ali in his prime.. no shame in that, look who your dealing with.

Little did I know that Tampa Bay was comprised of a bunch of sick, energetic, crazy muf*ckas. Warren Sapp.. you see this guy during the interviews.. he's a half-step away from the looney bin. Calm and articulate in one sentence, then he shakes his head, twitching, like the switch is bought to flip. That's the kinda guy you want on your side when it's time to handle your business. Shake somebody up. That's what he and the whole defense line did to Gannon. He couldn't even see straight.. how many interceptions?

Showing just how ridiculous Wall Street stock market analysts can be, on Friday, CBS Marketwatch posted a story about Robert Stovall, a global strategist at Clemente Asset Management, and his so-called "Super Bowl Predictor."

Stovall claimed that if the Bucs won the Super Bowl, it would be an 82 percent accurate predictor of how well the stock market will do this year. .. And he wasn't joking. His theory says that if a team with roots in the original National Football League wins the Super Bowl, stocks move higher throughout the year.

He claims that is has happened 29 times during the 36-year history of the Super Bowl. On Friday he stated, "This year, anyone who wants prices to go up will be rooting for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are an expansion team. But they have always been in the National Football League. That is the team that the bulls (are) riding on."

He goes on, "In the past, when the AFC team wins, the market usually goes down. That included last year. The New England Patriots won the game and the market sure went down. The Super Bowl Predictor has been correct 82 percent of the time, which I think is a pretty nifty record."

With analysis like that, wouldn't you want this man managing your money?

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Stoned to Death for Adultery?
On March 22, 2002 a judge in Katsina, Nigeria sentenced a woman to the death sentence for having a child outside of her marriage. She won't get the electric chair.. nor lethal injection, as if this was biblical times, she'll be buried in sand up to her neck and stoned until she's dead.

It sounds like a headline you'd read in a supermarket tabloid, "Woman Stoned to Death For Sleeping With Another Man." But this is a real story, with real consequences. Earlier this year, Oprah did a show on it, I picked it up in yesterday's New York Times.

The woman's name is Amina Lawal. After recently being divorced, local villagers noticed that she had become pregnant. The word spread and she was brought to a Regional Court where she was charged with the crime of adultery. With no legal representation, she confessed that she had slept with a man and her preganancy was the result of their relationship.

It's not clear if Nigerian officials told her the consequences of her confession. Nigerian law says that a baby born out of wedlock is equivalent to the crime of adultery and punishable by death. The father of Amina's now 1-year old daughter was picked up but was later released due to "insufficient evidence." For him to be convicted, he must either confess, or 4 other men must testify that they witnessed the adultery.

Though the sentence has stirred up controversy, a judge presiding over the case, Grand Khadi Aminu Ibrahim Katsina, says, "This case is an ordinary case. It is as simple as drinking water." He says that the ruling must be upheld as an example to anyone seeking to have sex outside of marriage. "The best deterrent is the death sentence, for people to see what happens to a fornicator. They watch you be stoned to death. They wouldn't want it to happen to them. So it definitely would be a deterrent."

Katsina, Nigeria adopted Shari'ah, or Islamic law about a year ago. It has swept through the northern, largely Muslim states over the last three years. Shari'ah, which dicatates rules for everything from prayers and meals to custody battles and sexual behavior, governs family law in many Islamic countries. Only a few use it for criminal trials: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and.. *drumroll* Afghanistan when it was under Taiban rule.

With the help of a woman's rights group, Amina appealled the sentence. On August 19, 2002 that appeal was denied. A new appeal at a higher court has been submitted.

The latest news is that a stay of execution has been granted until 2004. The next appeal hearing will take place on March 25, 2003.

Facing pressure from Women's and Human Rights organisations, the President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo said that the Nigerian Constituion would see to it that Amina Lawal's life is spared. However, the Nigerian Constitution also protects individual states - such as Katsina - from interference by the Nigerian Federal Government.

What can you do? You can email and write (writing is better) to the Nigerian government. The link is here amnesty.org. You can also check the Merton Amnesty Group which has more info..

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Mariah Carey on the Wendy Williams Show - 12:53 p.m.
On Thursday, the NY Post printed a picture of Mariah Carey walking down Fifth Ave., dressed in a mini-skirt and a denim jacket, scarf wrapped around her neck, hair blowing in the wind, wearing a pair of black boots.. Manolos or something. The blurb said, "Is Mariah Carey trying to catch pneumonia? With a wind-chill factor that made it feel like 6 degrees, Mariah looked positively naked compared to other pedestrians bundled up from head to toe.."

If I hadn't heard Mariah the day before on The Wendy Williams Show, I probably would have been thinking the same thing, "Sup with this broad?" Yeah, the pop diva bumped heads with the radio diva for a little one-on-one smash, and here's where the understanding comes in.. Mariah Carey is  a diva. She's dressed like it's the middle of September, but guaranteed the chick just got out of a limo where the temperature was similar to the deserts of Iraq. She ain't strolling to the bus.. during the interview she talked about flying down to Florida this weekend just to escape the cold. That's diva sh*t for real. How many people can just up and bounce cause it's a lil chilly in the city?

Anyway, despite her breakdown last year, Mariah is still a marquee talent and not the type of person you would expect to chat with Wendy Williams. Wendy likes to dig into the personal biz.. not too many big name artists can deal with that. At times during the interview, Mariah was huffing and puffing like she was just dealing with her because it was promo a spot for the album.. like she really wanted to spaz on her and leave the studio. Quote: "Can we discuss the record?.. Do we know this about the album."

I don't know who her Mary Ann friend is.. but her constant jumping into the conversation like "my bodyguard" was real annoying. Who are you? "I'm pissed right now because she [Mariah] has only slept about two hours in the last three days.. doing remixes and all that stuff, and she has to stay on the phone and make sure stuff is edited correctly, done right, blah, blah, blah, when am I gonna meet youuu.." This is coming from the backup singer. People faxed in asking if she was her lover or something. Mary Ann's response: "I'm strictly dickly." Right. Just play the wall and hit the high notes. Remember when LL had that kid E-Love holding him down on stage? Arms folded, didn't say nothing. Be inspired. She's hopping up like Thug Misses. They might be close, but she's mad annoying. I seriously want to box with this girl. Three rounds. I'll fight a girl :P

This isn't the entire interview, I only had one tape and the talk went on for three breaks. The clip is 37 minutes long though. Listen to it - Download it Realaudio (4.5 mb) or Zipped MP3 (8.4 mb)

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American Idol 2 - 12:43 p.m.

Outkast Coming to Heal Your Pain - 1:22 p.m.
I woke up this morning to some encouraging news to share with the gun and bling weary hip-hop fans of the world. Those Atlanta boys, Big Boi and Andre 3000 who click mics to form Outkast, are readying another potent set of tracks for the people.

Coming off the success of Stankonia,  they started talking that crazy.. "look out for my solo CD" crap. If a group plans on staying together, that's the worst move they could ever make. Look at Wutang, everybody got their rocks off and after the brief separation the group totally lost their mojo. And when Meth hooked up with Red it was definitely a wrap. Let's not even talk about Destiny's Child.. do you really see them going back to the girl group thing if Beyonce blows up the way Poppa Knowles expects her to?

When artists do solo shots, they usually cite the need to express their creativity outside of a few bars or shared vocals on a song; that's the same line Big Boi and Dre were spitting. Luckily that's not gonna happen.. at least not on two separate releases.

Their next album, will be a double-cd with one disc displaying more of Andre and the other will do more for Big Boi. As they see it, "It's our way of telling two perspectives of the same story. When you got this much creative juice flowing, the pot's gonna overflow, so you have to get another pot." Hah! See what I'm talking about?

Musically, Outkast have only gotten better with time.. one of the few groups whose sound hasn't stagnated over the years. Big Boi says they're gonna continue to cook up the good stuff, but don't look for the same things on the menu. "The records we're making right now sound nothing like Stankonia. These days, everything's fucked up - the economy, the White House, the war. Folks like the Grateful Dead and Curtis Mayfield brought people through the tough times. Right now, people are not making music to bring the people through. We will."

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Ludacris Transforms Into a Gerbil
Ludacris will be smothering his southern hospitality on the big screen, when he voices a supporting character in the R-rated cartoon Lil Pimp. It's a feature film, and Luda's character is a sh-t talking pet gerbil. He'll be joined by Lil Kim, Bernie Mac, William Shatner, and Carmen Electra among others.

Just what is this Lil Pimp  film about? Let's see how Sony Pictures describes it: "Poor Lil Pimp (Brooks). The little boy just doesn't seem to fit in at home in squeaky-clean suburbia. His only friend is a foul-mouthed talking gerbil, Weathers (Ludacris). Then one day, by accident, he runs into a dazzling 'ho, Sweet Chiffon (Lil' Kim), who takes him to a bar called Playground, a hip-hop wonderland where he befriends master pimp Fruit Juice (Mac) and is introduced to the world of pimping." .. wait a minute.. this can't be real..

"There's no place like the Playground and Lil Pimp calls it home. But his new life and the lives of his beloved 'hos and pimps is endangered by the machinations of the city's scheming, duplicitous mayor Tony Gold (Shatner)." ..They have got to be kidding.

"Unless Gold can be exposed for the rat bastard that he is, the Playground and the ghetto surrounding it will be transformed into a toxic golf course. And Lil' Pimp will be forced to return to the horrors of life in suburbia."

Hah! Alright.. that's straight up crazy. It seems that this cartoon is big here on the net. It was created by two former rock musicians, and will be the first feature film created with Macromedia Flash. Which I find incredible.. Flash was created as an internet animation tool, now it's going to the big screen? Hey, if South Park can get away with choppy animation.. why not.

Check out a picture of Lil Pimp. I'm not sure what I think about this yet.. first of all, I've never seen the cartoon.. it might be funny. Ludacris says it's South Park  taken to the next level. Right, but something doesn't seem right about a lil white kid repping pimping and ho-ing over life in the burbs. I don't know enough about the cartoon to really comment, so I won't. It's interesting to see that so many stars have signed on to the flick.. it's either hilarious or easy money.

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So You Went to Powerhouse 2003? - 1:59 p.m.
I had no intention of driving on the New Jersey Turnpike last night, doing 70 mph, way too fast considering the unexpected ice and snow mixture starting to make the road look like a skating rink. But there I was, twelve after twelve, thinking about what just took place at Power 105's "Concert of the Year." Fat Joe was the first to perform.. at least for me, I got to the Continental Arena on that uhh, CP time. I later found out that I had only missed Faith's performance, so it wasn't too bad.

Fat Joe and The Hit Squad
Joe did his usual Terror Squad thing and got the biggest response when he said, "We gotta do this here, cause ain't nobody else gonna rep my man tonight." "Don't Want to Be A Player" dropped and people went crazy. He was wrong about no one else repping Big Pun.. just about every artist paid tribute to Pun, JMJ, Aaliyah, and Left Eye.

Next up was Erick Sermon. He said that he was gonna bring the entire Hit Squad and stayed true to his word. Parish was there and they did some classic EPMD songs ie. "You Gots To Chill." It's kinda sad seeing how out of shape Parish is.. not physically, I'm talking skill wise. He used to be the leader of the group, but he's been out of the game for so long, he looked Erick's broke hype man. In any case, when they dropped the beat to "It's My Thing," everyone in the crowd is dancing and thang.. then Erick starts rhyming and people are looking like.. "what's that?" Lack of hip-hop history; younger folks know the beat as Jay-Z's "Ain't No Nigga." It was nothing.. cause E & P had a lot of energy, especially Erick. At one point when the crowd was kinda flat he said, "I'm 33 years-old. I don't give a fuck if there is two people rocking with me, I'm gonna do this."

Lucky for him, he didn't stick with the older material cause he probably would have had two people rocking with him. Red and Meth came out.. Meth in a short gray mink and Tims, and Redman with a Nets Jersey and a pair of Adidas tied around his neck. Soon after Keith Murray came out to do "React," then Erick says "Y'all remember a kid named K-Solo?" Yup, f-cking K-Solo was there. I was like "Oh Sh*t." They did "Headbanger" K-Solo did his verse and they stopped it there.. Redman has the last verse, but they let K-Solo has his shine for the night. Wonder if he's gonna be making any new records with them ..more

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President Sharpton on the Wendy Williams Show - 1:29 p.m.
Presidential hopeful Al Sharpton visited the Wendy Williams Show yesterday afternoon to announce his plans to run for office in the upcoming election. I know what your thinking, "He announces it on a radio show?" It was just a preliminary announcement, the official statement will come in a few weeks.

He definitely faces an uphill battle because when Wendy asked people to send in their questions, every one of them had something to do with his hair. All jokes. She had to toss the questions to the side and use her own. Even when the interview was over, one of the guys that works in the studio said, "I don't care what he says, he has to cut that hair. He looks like James Brown." Hah! That's really messed up. That's some ignorance, man. For real. Look at that picture, can you imagine him rocking any other hairstyle? Sharpton addressed the issue about his hair in the interview.

Now, I'm not endorsing the guy, but he at least deserves to be heard. When you look at the rest of the candidates, can you honestly say that they look any better and will serve your interests? I highly doubt that. No matter who is in office, people always have complaints about them. Sharpton is in over his head though.. Washington is all about the people that you know and the financial connects you have and can make for them. Relationships with established powers. Which Sharpton does not have.

How do you think George Bush got elected? Dumb ass number one got pushed to the front of the class by the strength of his family's connections. Do you really think he won the election by a couple of thousand votes in Florida? In any case, Sharpton at least deserves to be heard.. My hope is that he makes it to the debate stage in the Democratic primary, just to disturb people who think he shouldn't be in the building, much less on the mike. Go ahead and listen to the new Funky President.. Listen to Al - Download Al (realaudio 1.9 mb) - mp3 (3.7 mb)

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The $41 Burger Joint
Imagine you order a cheeseburger and fries from Burger King, Mickey D's, Fatburger, Chuck A Burger.. and the cashier says "Ahite, that'll be 44.38 with tax."

Visit the Old Homestead Steak House, here in NYC, and that's exactly what you'll be paying. The restaurant claims to serve more than 200 burgers a day; James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) is a regular at the place.

What makes this burger so special? It's made from Kobe beef...nothing to do with Bryant. Kobe beef is imported from Japan and is supposedly really tender and just the best tasting cow you can buy. Japan's terrain is really rugged with only small pockets of land suitable for breeding cattle. One of those places is the Kobe region.

During the summer months the cows are fed a diet of beer to stimulate their appetite for feed. For some reason the beer makes them eat feed.. the bigger the better. These fat bastards are then massaged to relieve stress and stiffness in their muscles; some meat producers brush the cows with the beer to make their coats and skin soft..

The cows really believe they have it made, until their traveling down that conveyor belt and see those monster-sized blades swinging left and right. Before you know it, once the blood dries and the screaming stops.. your blessed with a nice little sandwich.. w/cheese.

Would you pay $41 for a taste of this thing? it used to be that a Mickey D date was considered to be cheap.. not as cheap as a 50 cent frank.. but cheap nonetheless. Now a brother can tell a chick that they're going out for burgers and not ask is she wants to super size it. This thing is 20 ounces of beef baby.. it's already huge.

Hmmm, which means you can still get over by offering to split the one joint between the two of you. Think about it. With drinks your spending $100+.. That's like three hundred White Castle Burgers.. 25 Big Macs.. and with all that meat, one long stay in the bathroom.

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The American Music Awards - 1:03 p.m.
I really wanted to watch the AMAs last night.. but honestly, it was as boring as you can get. The BET Awards get hated on, called ghetto and unprofessional - which I don't understand.. actually I do..it's called self-hatred - but they are way more entertaining than that snoozeathon that aired last night.

The Osbournes hosted the show, but whenever they take their act outside the confines of the MTV show, they just seem out of place. They are truly the Adams Family in the flesh.

Maybe the good stuff happened when I flipped to Joe Millionaire, but I doubt it. I did catch Christina Aguilera's performance. The audience seemed to be stunned that she can actually sing. I know I was, and definitely impressed. She did two songs. Don't know the name of the first one, but she was singing  or as Steve Harvey says sangin. Dare I say, she sounded Chaka Khanish.. yeah, I'll say that. After the second song, "Beautiful," the camera cut to Britney Spears and she was sitting there with tears in her eyes.

I'm telling you.. people feel sorry for Christina. They see her with her ass cheeks hanging out, tits barely covered up, all oiled up and grindin and they think she's an abused child, rebelling for no other reason than to say "This is me... I'm an independent woman and I do what I want." In everyone else's eyes, they're just reaching. "Beautiful" is about not letting the things people say about you break your spirit. With all the criticism Christina has gone through for her new look, it feels like a very personal and timely song.

At least she proved that her look is only that, she's actually more than a cheap peep show.

Favorite male hip-hop/r&b artist, favorite pop/rock male artist, favorite hip-hop/r&b album and favorite pop/rock album... your boy, Eminem. Besides the fact that Eminem doesn't do r&b, there's no surprise there. What's surprising is that he wasn't there to accept the award. I heard that at one point Mekhi Phifer was on stage and said he had Eminem on his cell. Guess, Em knew the awards were gonna stink too.

Another winner, and no show, was the Queen of Hip-Hop and R&B Mary J Blige.. she won Favorite hip-hop/r&b female artist and the self-proclaimed Princess Ashanti won for new hip-hop/r&b favorite female artist and new pop/rock female artist.

I heard.. remember I didn't see this.. that Ja-Rule and Bobby Brown performed "Thug Lovin" while old video of Whitney and Bobby was screened in the background. And Missy and B2K performed. How any of that was.. I have no idea. Fill in the blanks if you want.

Going against George Bush's push for war on Iraq was Sheryl Crow who wore a t-shirt that said "War is not the Answer" and before introducing Willie Nelson said "Hey everybody, I know this is an award show but I just want to encourage everybody to get involved in some kind of movement for peace." I think she's voicing what many people are thinking, yesterday an online CNN and Donahue poll had 75% of people against the White House's intention to disarm Iraq.

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The LeBron James Show
Who is LeBron James? He's the latest kid to be called the next Michael Jordan of the NBA. At 18-years old, a high school senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio; he has NBA scouts salivating at his potential in the league.

The demand to see him play is so strong that his team's games have been moved to a college arena - attracting visits by Jay-Z, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan. The St. Vincent-St. Mary team for which he plays is estimated to bring in nearly $300,000 - almost solely because he's on the floor. ESPN has also been airing some of his high school games on cable.

In ESPN magazine they write "LeBron James is living in a world where his headbands are for sale -- the price going up by the minute after this latest dunk, which was of course caught on videotape." And then up for sale. This past Sunday the Associated Press covered his latest game: "For eight breathtaking minutes, LeBron James did it all. He dazzled, dunked and delivered a performance that even he thought was spectacular. And the nation's best high school player said he can play even better. Scary... James finished with 30 points, 14 rebounds, five steals and four assists." Everyone agrees that he's the real deal.

Endorsement contracts are being drawn up by Adidas, Nike, Gatorade, McDonalds.. he's 18 now.. at 19 he'll be rapping like Biggie, "It was all a dream/I used to read Word Up magazine.."

Recently, his mother, Gloria James gave him a birthday present - a 2003 Hummer H2 with three televisions in the headrests, a video-game hookup and the system is knocking lovely. Nice gift, huh? The problem is the Ohio High School Athletic Association is questioning where his mother got the money from. See, she doesn't have a job, and a plain jane Hummer costs about $50,000.00, fully equipped your lookin at between $75 - $100,000.00

Moms says that she got a loan from a bank, but investigators have their doubts. If it was a gift from some company, NBA agent or whatever, he would have violated rule 4-10-1 (c) which says an athlete forfeits his or her amateur status by "capitalizing on athletic fame by receiving money or gifts of monetary value."

In essence, he would be stripped of his amateur status and his high school would have to forfeit all games that he played in from the date that he received the Hummer. This morning on a sports talk show, the host was asking why his mother bought him an expensive car instead of a house or some other gift. He mentioned that they live in the projects and it couldn't possibly be safe to have a big SUV in the area. Craziness.

He has a point about buying a house, it's obvious that mom's is getting fab with it.. but that's the life they're about to lead. It's not uncommon for sports stars to slip around in the latest whips. The question is why he can't benefit from his potential future and the school can bank hundreds of thousand of dollars? ESPN is getting big advertising dollars from airing his games; it's the same as with college players who play for nothing and the school benefits. That's why they're so willing to give out sports scholarships, they're gonna get that money back in other ways. Don't hate the kid, hate the game.

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Reverend Al For President - 12:28 p.m.
This morning Senator Joseph Lieberman announced that he would be running for president in 2004; Lieberman was Al Gore's running mate in the last race for the presidency. Before he even begins stretching out and getting fitted for a pair of tracks shoes for the upcoming bout, I gotta say his chances of winning are about as likely as mine.

Here's a clue to his undoubted demise: appearance is everything, and Lieberman looks like an old, raggedy, high school biology teacher. Have you ever seen Back to the Future?.. the nutty professor in that flick reeks of Lieberman's whole style. He's not as off the wall, which would probably be a good thing if he was, but Lieberman is straight dry toast. No flavor at all.

Enter a cool soul brother like Alfred Sharpton (is that his full first name?) Everyone's favorite reactionary, slick-backed, reverend is steady rubbing his beard, contemplating plans for his  run for his spot in the oval office. That's what I'm talking about, painting the White House black. Bill Clinton was/is appreciative of African-American culture, but Al Sharpton was once James Brown's touring manager. That's for real. Can't get no funkier than that.. imagine JB at the inaugural party doing his classic and appropriate tune "Funky President." Hey!

Al Sharpton has been clowned throughout his career, partly because he used to rock track suits and gold chains and of course the ubiquitous James Brown hairdo, this while he pumped his fist for civil rights issues and claimed to be a Reverend. Ample material for jokes. But let's talk about content, in all honesty, listening to Joseph Lieberman explaining his political agenda, it's no better than what Al Sharpton has to offer.

On January 21st, Sharpton is planning to create a presidential exploratory committee, and he's already on the road delivering speeches, preparing to open an office in Washington DC, and is giving his views on the hot topics ie. North Korea, Iraq, and deficit spending. "I'm very serious about this," Sharpton said. "I'm not just talking about getting a position in the White House. I'm talking about fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party."

As the only black candidate he figures to rack up big numbers in states with large black populations. For the sake of argument, let's say that he gets those votes, the trick will be convincing others that he's not the joker that the media makes him out to be.

Sharpton ran for mayor of New York City, and though he lost, he got a suprisingly large portion of the vote that analysts say accounted for more than just the black-latino vote. Some Democrats are concerned that in an attempt they see as doomed to fail, he'll take attention away from candidates they feel are more qualified to challenge President Bush.

Sharpton has already logged 17 minutes on NBC's Meet the Press and when the host Tim Russert ended the interview by saying, "To be continued: We look forward to covering you on the campaign trail." Sharpton smiled and said, "I will be looking for you, Brother Russert."

Noting his reputation for fighting for controversial issues his critics feel he will waste no time, attacking his opponents directly and leaving them at a disadvantage when they fear coming back just as hard and alienating the "black vote." As if.. all black folks would vote for him in the first place. Sharpton doesn't plan on playing the so-called race card, he says, "I'm operating from the premise that the Democratic Party lost not only the White House but the Senate and the Congress because their strategy has been to go to the right to get new voters."

The heart of his strategy will be to bring up issues that Democrats have avoided talking about. This way even he loses, and he acknowledges that likelihood.. he says, "someone who is the winner and the chair of the party would have to sit down with that block of voters and deal with it."

David Axelrod, a Democratic consultant who worked in New York during the mayoral race said: "Sharpton is largely an unknown to the political community in Washington, and his role is being understated here. Anyone who knows him knows that he is a very, very smart and clever politician. I don't think people are fully grasping his capacities."

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Salma Hayek Does Hollywood
With her part in Do the Right Thing, Rosie Perez lit a match for a new generation of Latino women in show biz. Soon after Jennifer Lopez took the baton; after adopting the moniker J.LO her career took off. Somewhere in between those two, Salma Hayek was making noise.. actually, turning heads. Her part in Desperados  was all about playing "the beautiful chick." Not a hard job for her at all.

Coming from a comfortable lifestyle in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico - a small town on the east side of the country - her father a successful business man, her mother a trained opera singer. A young Salma Hayek, bounced the idea of pursuing acting off of her father. He wanted her to finish college, get married, and have kids. She told him that it was her destiny to be an actress. "Now you can imagine how strange that sounded. He's like, 'What? Where did you get this? Why do you think this is your destiny?'" Nevertheless, Salma devoted herself to acting full-time, and two years later landed a part on a Mexican soap opera called Teresa. She became a star overnight.

Not wanting to be forever known as a soap opera star.. In 1991, knowing little English and having a slight case of dyslexia, she decided to make her way to Los Angeles, California. Struggling for 4 years before landing the role in Desperado, she thought she finally had it made. She spent all the money from the film in 10 days. Big mistake. While she knew that she had real talent, studio execs were making comments like: "It doesn't matter how good you are as an actress or how pretty you are. You can never be a leading lady, because we can't take the risk of you opening your mouth and people thinking of their maids - because that's what you sound like."

Ouch! What about this one regarding a part in a sci-fi flick? "We can't put Salma Hayek in the movie. Whoever heard of a Mexican in space?"

Yeah, those are real comments. This month Vanity Fair  is running a cover story on Salma Hayek that documents her rise to fame. Despite the praise she's getting for her part in the indie flick Frida, the story of the famed Mexican painter Frida Kaloh, you can see that nothing has been handed to her. She lives with the belief that, "Everything that you grow up with you have to fight against - whether you grow up poor or you grow up privileged.. because you have to keep learning different things.. otherwise how do you discover life?"

She's a fighter and determined to do the things that she believes in. Not in a bitchy way, in a way that says this is how I see it and believe me your gonna love it. At this moment, Salma Hayek is getting all the love she can handle: her parents are proud of her success, she has a relationship with Edward Norton (star of 25th Hour), a starring role in the upcoming Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and has directed her first film for Showtime called The Maldonado Miracle starring Peter Fonda, Ruben Blades and Mare Winningham.

Those twisted comments she heard from studio execs years ago, have faded to admiration. "We love Salma. I would work with her as a producer again, but, more importantly, I would work with Salma as a director." - Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein; "If Salma were white and male, she'd be bigger than Harvey Weinstein" - Alfred Molina; that last comment acknowledges the politics of the industry, but it really was a compliment..

Regardless, Salma ain't gonna stop hustling, "You do something, you give it your best, and then when it's done you let it go, and then you dream a new dream."

Lights. Camera. Action.

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Is Eminem the Hip-Hop Elvis? - 2:10 p.m.
Like with music artists, there are some people in this business that I hold a lot of respect for. Not just because they are pioneers, but because they have done some ridiculously hot work. In the field of music journalism, Harry Allen, the media assassin stands as one of the best to do it.. and is still doing it. When I picked up this month's Source and saw that he had written an editorial on Eminem I was hype.

Benzino came out of nowhere and tossed a pound of beef on Em's doorstep. Claiming that Em reps the machine of the music industry and needs to be taken down, made an example of, and all that good stuff. Surely Harry Allen, someone who has a thorough understanding of the dynamics of hip-hop, could put the subject in the proper perspective.

Not half way through the article, why did I find myself screaming, "That's just stupid?"

He was taking the stance that Eminem is the hip-hop Elvis. The Elvis comparisons obviously come from the fact that they're both white. However, that's where the similarities stop. Elvis embraced black music, but he gave no love to those he stole his style from. Like Chuck D said: "A straight up racist simple and plain.. muthafuck him and John Wayne."

Elvis listened to songs like "Jailhouse Rock" (which was originally a gospel song) and "Hound Dog" by Big Mama Thornton and drained the passion and soul from them, carving them into a puppet dance for the Vegas strip; in the eyes of mainstream America, he made "forbidden" music palatable to them. Most people had no idea or even cared that he was stealing the songs from black artists, to them he was just "groovy."

The King (as he's called) was far from an angel. He embraced a hedonistic lifestyle that black artists are routinely criticized for: buying Cadillacs, shooting at tvs with shotguns, downing bottles of pills, sexed his way across the country and died alone as an overweight, pathetic drug addict. Yet, he's damn near Jesus in the minds of many "red-blooded Americans."

Harry Allen's comparison to Eminem being the new Elvis is off base though. Em, unlike Elvis, is a product of the environment. Unintentionally, hip-hop took this country by storm, knocked rock and roll, grunge and all other derivatives to the side and in that process was embraced by White America. In some cases, like when white people traveled up to 125th street in Harlem to see jazz players, it simply provided them with a source of entertainment. In others, it spoke to them as much as it did kids in the hood.

Here we are, some 25 years into the music, and for some people it's the only music they know. Eminem is a product of hip-hop's success. He grew up listening to hip-hop and also became pretty good at rapping. Lucky for him, he met Dr. Dre. Before that, he was just another freestyle MC, someone who had gotten a mention in the Source's Unsigned Hype column, but like most aspiring mc's he was struggling. Dre heard him freestyle on the radio and contacted him.. Em didn't create this big master plan where he takes over the world of hip-hop by adopting the slang and style and then benefiting from his whiteness.

I'll agree that he gets an entirely different treatment by the press. The Village Voice got crazy and called him The Father of the Year. In their eyes he's just a guy with a naughty mouth, who threatens to kill his baby's mama, shits on his mother, and curses a lot.. but he's really a nice guy. You don't see Snoop or Ice Cube being noted as a good fathers.. even though they are just as caring for their kids. Ice Cube with all his gangsta posing has been happily married for years.

That's a problem with how the press covers black and white artists.. and should be taken to them. It's not like Em intentionally leans that way. He's just doing him.

8 Mile and his albums are pulling in millions, but is it his fault that he's successful? The fact of the matter, is that his whiteness is going to automatically make him more acceptable to some people. People know and laugh with Puffy and Jay-Z and Snoop and Dre... but would never buy their albums simply because they view them as being criminals by nature.. Can't have that in the house or the car.

In short.. (Hah!..it's way too late for that).. Eminem ain't no Elvis. And interestingly, the success he has now is putting him in the position where he'll have to decide if he's gonna go pop or be true to his roots.. you know, does he continue to scowl and act uninterested at award shows or does he smile and say "boy, this is great.. and by the way I need to expand creatively.. somebody hand me a guitar." That's when the Elvis chants will really start coming.

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Def Jam and BMG Adopt New Audio Formats
Ask any entrenched music executive about the decline in music sales and they'll tell you that it's due to the rampant piracy of music over peer to peer networks: Napster (RIP), Madster, KaZaa, Winmx, countless Gnutella clones and "underground" sites. They're keeping people from parting with a crisp twenty for a CD. .. Instead of making things easier by offering high quality mp3s, for sale early, cheap and often, label heads are hunkered up in the castle like the elves and the king's men in The Two Towers: Holding off the inevitable collapse of the walls.

It's always been my view, that at some point in time we'll be able to download entire "official" albums directly from the record company. Through all the discussions about piracy and the loss of control in the distribution system, MP3s represent a format that's best suited for this new digital era. What's more convenient? 6-7 CDs lumped into your bag or one MP3 player loaded with 300 songs?

In a surprising move Def Jam has announced that they will begin offering singles for sale as downloads, the same day that they are added to radio station playlists. The program made it's debut yesterday, with an American Hi-Fi song "The Art of Losing" made available for 99 cents through some subscription services, affiliate websites, and retailers.

If this program will extend to music from Method Man and DMX remains to be seen; with Def Jam announcing the plan you'd think so, but it's funny.. people seem to think that hip-hop heads are inherently dysfunctional and not able to operate or own computers.. you know, the whole concept of a digital divide. Sleep if you wanna, suckas! There is also the issue of what kinds of security restrictions will be placed on the downloads.

The so-called Napster replacements, Musicnet and Pressplay, got a cold reception not only because you had to front some cash, but also because you could only play the songs on the computer you downloaded it with, there was a limit on the number of songs you could store and download per month, and the songs couldn't be burned to CD. Adjustments have been made since then.. with some services allowing you to burn CDs, but it's still a long way from Shawn Fanning's world of a Napster Fiesta.

While Def Jam is testing out downloads, BMG (the parent company of Usher, Outkast, and Pink) has announced that they'll begin supporting DVD-Audio. The audio fidelity of a DVD Audio disc is said to "far exceed the quality of conventional CDs and audio on DVD-Video." The new format sports stereo, multi-channel surround sound and a limited amount of video, which can be used to display text, such as lyrics or notes; or pics for photo albums. Though you'll need to buy a DVD Audio player, the hope is that the new format will do for music sales what DVDs have done for video.

Another feature they find attractive is that DVD-Audio is considered to be more resistant to copying and piracy, as the larger filesizes will make it more of a hassle: 1 gig on a 56k line is no fun at all.

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Murder INC Offices Raided - 1:48 p.m.
By now you've heard that things have gotten real for Murder INC, their offices at Worldwide Plaza in New York City were raided on Friday. Computers and documents were confiscated as part of an investigation of alleged ties to money laundering and a drug gang called The Supreme Team.

What sparked the investigation was the recent revelation that Murder INC may have financial ties to Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. The Supreme Team was a 100+ member crack cocaine operation that served fiends and destroyed lives during the 1980's. A thriving business for street niggas, bringing in over $200,000.00 a day. In 1988, the operation was broken up by the DEA, with most of the members being arrested and serving jail time; McGriff served 10 years. In July 2001, McGriff was arrested when police recovered two loaded weapons and more than $10,000 in cash from his vehicle. He pleaded guilty to gun possession in September.

I read awhile ago that Irv Gotti had a relationship with McGriff.. in the article (don't remember where) this guy named Supreme was mentioned and there was some hinting that Ja Rule was being co-managed by him. And at the height of the so-called East coast/West coast feud, Suge was running around saying how everyone in NY were some bitches.. Tupac told him that that wasn't true and brought up a few names.. one of them was "Supreme from Queens." I'm guessing that the friendly association between Irv Gotti and Suge stems partly from the association with Supreme.

Of course.. that's yet to be proven, but Irv Gotti has talked about how in his early days he was friendly with drug dealers from the neighborhood and how they encouraged him to steer clear of what they were into and do the music thing, which at that time meant DJing. The Supreme Team was one of the most infamous squads out there.. so it wouldn't be a stretch to make that connection.. it's a small world, especially when your talking about one borough and the hood part of it at that.

Detectives are trying to determine if Murder INC was seeded with drug money.. something that I don't think they'll prove. Irv got his start with Mic Geronimo and that song "Shit is Real." He didn't start screaming Murder INC until after he got the A&R job with Def Jam and Lyor gave him the deal for the label. It wasn't like he started independently on white labels.

In any case, this is another example of talking too much. Outside of records, when you start flapping about how you carry guns, wear bulletproof vests and the people you know.. your inviting unwanted attention to yourself. He should have taken a cue from the guy whose name he borrowed.. John Gotti.. conversations taped from wire taps helped to bring him down, but he did all he could not  to get caught talking about what he did or was involved in. I'm sure once this is over Irv will keep all that Murderrrrrrrr *ish to a minimum.

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Really, It's Not About the Money..
My new favorite show starts off today at 9 PM on FOX.. Joe Millionaire. If you live in the United States and have a television, there is absolutely no way that you couldn't have heard about this show. Watching football yesterday, there must have been fifty commercials advertising this thing.. and that was just on Sunday.

The premise of the show.. take twenty women, fly them out to France to meet this rich, balling ass bachelors.. he has just inherited $50 million, living big and is looking to share some of his time and money on a lil cutie. The catch is the guy really isn't a millionaire.. he's damn near at the bottom of barrel, scratching the poverty level with $19,000.00 a year as a construction worker. The women don't know this.. so they smile, flash leg and in the promos say things like "I feel like I'm dreaming" and can't stop saying how fine he is. "He's a freakin hottie!"

He might be a good looking guy, but is it the money that makes him look even better? You know the line that many a gold digger will use.. how it's not about the money, it's how the guy makes them feel. This is a test to see how a woman reacts after she declares her love and then she finds out that the Benz is rented and hooptie is the way the kid really rolls.

The bachelor's name is Evan Wallace Marriot and on September 25, 2002 he was really low on change.. This might be a planted story, but The Smoking Gun has a copy of a ticket that he received for toll evasion. Apparently he was driving along, hit a toll and didn't have the estimated $2.50 to pass through the gate. Always wondered what happened in situations like that.. he got a $104 ticket.

Some people have been saying that they feel sorry for the women, because they were lied to in the first place and how do you expect them to react. But if they start the show off with these chicks saying that they don't care about money and that's not what's important.. then that argument is negated. Is it a lie? Yup. But here they are on record as saying they don't care about money. The lie itself.. well that's part of the show, not something that he personally decided to cook up.

One lucky girl will get to decide if she'll say, "F- this, I ain't staying with your broke ass" or "I don't care.. I luv ya anyway." It'll be interesting to see how the situation plays out.

What's funny is that.. this guy may have actually lied to the shows producers. While he says that he's a construction worker.. the Virginian-Pilot quoted his father saying that he has spent time as a model and had jobs in Paris and New York. In 1999, he went to California for a model gig and has worked in construction since then.. Pops might be leaning to a surprise that everyone will find out during the final episode: that Joe Millionaire really does have a few dollars.

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Oops.. Now What is This? - 2:27 p.m.
I originally linked to "Joe Millionaire's" traffic ticket.. but it was a 0-day link and up pops a story about your boy Dylan John from Making the Band 2. Missed a few episodes but I believe they mentioned it on the show.

"Bullshit and Party and Bullshit and Par.." - 1:53 p.m.
Here, you get the good as well as the bad.. Page Six reports that Puffy's New Years Eve party at The Opium Garden was marred as fights broke out when the crowd pushed and shoved to get close to Sean Combs. One club "insider" (whatever that means) said, "He has overstayed his welcome everywhere, from Miami to St. Tropez. Nobody wants him and his ugly dangerous entourage in their club anymore. Plus he never wants to pay for a thing." It's said that PD ordered about thirty bottles of Cristal - on the house.

They also say that he was given VIP bracelets for his crew, but these same people are suspected of selling them on the street for $200 a piece. A PD rep commented, "That's impossible. There was a guest list, and all of the wristbands were messengered to everyone beforehand." If I can break in here - If they sold the bracelets, how did they get in the club? Or did they just dash the party for a couple of dollars? On New Years Eve? Doesn't sound likely.

Two nights before, Puff was hanging out at club called Mynt for The Platinum Show Ball, an event hosted by Missy. Unnamed sources say, "Two guys stole a bottle of Chivas Regal off Puffy's table and his bodyguards went looking for them. The guys started fighting with Puffy's bodyguards, and then the bouncers came over and got into an argument with Puffy's people. The club just turned the lights on at about 2:45 a.m. before things got out of control." Mynt owner Roberto Cahan said, "Puffy's a very good customer, but his bodyguards overreact sometimes."

One thing. What's up with people snatching bottles off the table? How starving do you have to be to do that? The same dudes frontin like "playas" and "ballas." And at Opium.. people going crazy just to get next to him.. what's that all about.. was he signing napkins? I hope the DJ took the cue and through on Biggie. "And bullshit and party, and bullshit and party.."

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Queen Latifah Getting Rave Reviews for Chicago
Latifah's few attempts at recording r&bish records have gotten a lukewarm reception; but she's getting rave reviews for her performances in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Chicago.

The story is based on the bizarre culture of celebrity and how far people will go to gain fame. The film is set during the Depression, it concerns two killers who become stars and then find their stardom fading as newer, more fascinating killers capture the public's interest.

Latifah plays a prison warden who consuls two murderesses. Given that it's a musical, Latifah belts out a few tunes during the movie. One big number, "Class" that is present in the stage version was cut in the final editing of the film. Latifah says, "We shot it, we shot it.. but I guess there were pacing problems. It slowed the movie down, they say. I didn't mind because once I saw the movie, I thought, 'It does move really well and if it's good for the movie, it's good for me.' So I was OK with it."

The snipped scene will appear in the DVD version of the film.

It seems as though every movie coming out in the last five weeks have the words "Best," "Award Winning," and "Movie of the Year" attached to them. Latifah is up for a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actress, she has never been one of those wack rap actors anyway, so it's not surprising.

About the film overall, Latifah said "It came out even better than I anticipated. I love this movie. Even the credits -- where they make it look like a marquee with a couple of light bulbs missing -- are brilliant. When we were making it, I would show up on the set to watch other people do their scenes and, believe me, I never do that."

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50 Cent Arrested for Gun Possession - 3:56 p.m.
How can you tell that 50 Cent is gonna be one of the hottest acts of 2003? Easy, his album is gonna be released in February and now he's been arrested. Similar to the way the stars line up just right to form certain constellations, things couldn't be better for the kid.

The story goes that cops spotted a Jeep Grand Cherokee in a no-standing zone outside the Copacabana, a club in NYC on 34th and 11th avenue. While inside, cops ticketed the car for the $105 infraction.. or that's how it should have happened.. reports say that cops searched the car and found a .25 caliber handgun on the floor and a .45 caliber handgun under the front passenger seat. Police say that five people were in the car: three of them were wearing bulletproof vests, and one was sitting on a fourth vest. 50 wasn't wearing a bulletproof vest, and was in the rear passenger side of the jeep. All five were charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

The hole in this story regards the reason for the jeep being searched. The AP reports circulating make it seem as though it was a routine ticketing and then a search of the jeep.. but since when does your vehicle get searched for being illegally parked, and how did they get inside. Pop the lock?

John Mangan, a promoter that 50 was working with for a performance at the club, said he witnessed what happened and told a different story to UPN 9 news. He said "They did absolutely nothing wrong.. as he [50] was about to come outside the car a police officer stopped him and told him 'No, get back in the car and drive around the corner.' If they want to say it was a traffic infraction the only thing they can say is he was parked in front of the club in order to get out."

With that statement it seems as though cops waited for 50 to come outside the club - or spotted him sitting there - and then told the driver to get moving so that they could stop and search the vehicle. It couldn't have happened in front of the spot. There is video of 50 coming out of a building in handcuffs, but it's not the front of the club.

In any case.. 50 has been under police surveillance for a minute. When the JMJ thing went down they were all under his fingernails. In a recent interview with Don Diva Magazine he's quoted as saying, "I had to leave and go out of town cause the police is followin' me wherever I go. I'm telling them I don't want'em around me and they tellin me 'Oh, well it's outta your hands.' ..they followed me all the way into New Jersey. Then the detectives told me that they know for a fact that somebody's tryin to kill me. Yo, don't be surprised if you hear them dudes is locked up, because whoever they [police] is talkin to is right in the circle of these niggas."

He doesn't help is case any by saying earlier in the interview, "I'm not a thrill seeker, if it wasn't necessary I wouldn't hustle or carry a "ratchet". It's either you carry the gun or you caught wit out one - I know how it feels to be caught wit out one." Nice. If your the cops and want to hassle the man, you've got a reason to search him right there in print.

This arrest and his beef with Ja and Murder INC still aligns those stars in the right spots.. arrests and big record sales go hand in hand: Luke, Dr.Dre, Snoop, Tupac, Biggie, Eminem. The dudes in good company.

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P Diddy's New Year Resolutions
Over the last few days, we've been talking about Making the Band 2. No matter what ultimately becomes of the group, it was the third highest rated show on MTV, and therefore successful in keeping Puff in the spotlight.

It's the part of the game where many people fumble the ball: they either do the overexposure thing or lay low for so long that you forget their name; Puff has managed to keep a balance between the two. This after his deal with Arista Records expired and they decided to part ways - he did buy the option to purchase the masters to the Bad Boy catalog, which makes him an owner now... Suge and Master P would be proud. In 2002, Bad Boy released only one album that did numbers, We Invented the Remix  which sold 1 million copies. The "I Need a Girl" drops from that album, the eight or nine videos where he pretends to be a rapper.. actually he considers himself to be an entertainer.. and the introduction of Loon were enough to keep the attention off the fact that the days of Bad Boy's big bad reign is over.

What really keeps his shine on is the dough from his Sean John clothing line which copped $325 million this year, an estimated increase of 30% from 2001. He also ventured into advertising with Blue Flame Marketing and Advertising - with big clients like Microsoft and Calvin Klein.

All that's nice, but the foundation is what's important: music. PD hopes to reclaim the throne in that category in the coming year. With that said, let's take a look some of the things on P.Diddy's To Do List for 2003.

• Knock out a distribution deal with either Elektra, Def Jam, or C. Diddy aka Clive Davis. Owning the masters is the sticking point. In the meantime, BMG will let us use their pipeline.
• Make New Edition look attractive to the B2K fans... or have their mommas bring them to the concerts, cause all their original fans are 30 and better.
• Take 8Ball and MJG from southern hustlers into nationwide playa status.
• Can Loon really replace Ma$e? Drop his album while he's hot.. possibly in February.
• Dream.. is still on the label.. release their album in the Spring. F-ck Total.
• Carl Thomas is feeling neglected, get him in the studio before he pulls a 112.. think summertime.
• Scrape up some Biggie verses and patch them up like Pac's people. It works for them.
• Watch and laugh as J.LO continues the process of reversing the first letter of her last name from L to one that precedes it.. that would be: J.HO
• Hope that Shine doesn't get released early and start spitting venom in the press. He's still signed to the label, right?

Regarding that last one.. it will really be a test of Puff's chin. Shine rightfully has a beef, getting hung out like bait.. while Puff skated on, but he can't base a new career on hating Puff. If he's released early (his lawyers have been trying to work that out) he'll hit the streets, beef for a minute, and have to move on.. About that whole situation, Puff says, "That was a bad time in my life. And I think about it every day, but I'm thinking about other things now. I'm in my work mode. I'm turning up the heat."