Over $1 million in borrowed jewelry currently being held by the LAPD as evidence in the case against Chris Brown will finally be returned to Rihanna! Rihanna's attorney, Donald Etra, made a request earlier this week for the jewels that were worn by Rihanna on the night of the alleged attack to be returned ASAP. The jewelers that loaned Rihanna the jewels wanted the singer to cough up over $1.4 mil if the court failed to hand over the bling! Thankfully, a deal was drawn up today and prosecutors agreed that photographs of the jewelry would suffice as evidence in place of the jewels themselves. 4.29.2009
Finally getting the jewels back!!!!
Over $1 million in borrowed jewelry currently being held by the LAPD as evidence in the case against Chris Brown will finally be returned to Rihanna! Rihanna's attorney, Donald Etra, made a request earlier this week for the jewels that were worn by Rihanna on the night of the alleged attack to be returned ASAP. The jewelers that loaned Rihanna the jewels wanted the singer to cough up over $1.4 mil if the court failed to hand over the bling! Thankfully, a deal was drawn up today and prosecutors agreed that photographs of the jewelry would suffice as evidence in place of the jewels themselves. 
X-Men LeAkEd, OoPs
Earlier this month, the new Wolverine movie had been leaked onto the Internet. Huge Ooops!The brains over at Fox weren't too pleased with that and they even enlisted the help of the FBI to find the culprit(s). But, good news for those of you that already saw the leaked version, the movie now has extra scenes that were included last minute.
According to Director Gavin Hood, the flick now features two different surprise endings. The movie, which hits theaters this Friday, will play short bits of the footage after the credits. The clips are said to reveal important info about the main characters. But there's a catch. Hood reveals that the endings play on separate prints, so it turns out that different endings may play in different theaters. Not cool! If you're gonna pay to legally watch the flick, you should be able to watch both endings. At least I think so. Will you be going to watch Wolverine this weekend? Cause I am!!
TyRa BaNkS' sTaLkEr!!!
As many have seen and heard earlier this week, Tyra Banks had to go to court to testify against some crazy ass stalker, 38-year-old Brady Green. According to reports, Tyra testified today against Green in an attempt to persuade the court that the Georgia man is indeed a threat to her and those around her. She told the court that:"I fear my safety. I feel extremely vulnerable. I fear the safety of my staff. My family. The people in my vicinity. [My staff doesn't] tell me about fans. They said this person threatened one of my staffers. At that moment that was it. The first thing is there's this person who's more than a fan. I was at work one day about to leave and a bunch of people on my staff said, 'No! You can't go.' [Green] got past security and you need to be here. Never in my career had staff reacted like this. I had to stay in my dressing room for a while."
So how has this affected Tyra? She revealed:
"My life has changed significantly, even the people who know me. I don't live that sheltered life. I like to walk around my neighborhood. I run outside. I like to go to the movies by myself, eat meals by myself. My company hired security. When I'm at the movies, in a restaurant, they are there with me. I can't jog outside anymore. I would go with a trainer or alone but with security present. The show made significant changes. They hired security. Plain clothes too. Budget is everything but they understood that was necessary. The extra [expenditures] were made."
Craziness!
So, did Green really pose that much of a threat to Tyra? The court will hopefully decide soon, but if he's convicted he'll only face a maximum of 90 days in jail.
GoOd ReLaTiOnShIpS
New track off the new Trap-A-Holics mixtape “Disturbing The Trap” Listen and Download
4.28.2009
Eminem Punishes the Cover of XXL
Eminem Punishes the Cover of XXL!Eminem is looking extra dangerous on the cover of XXL, as he opens up about his life, career and comeback. Below you can catch a huge expert of the June 2009 issue.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Marshall Mathers returns to his favorite magazine to speak out on freedom of speech, satire, race, music, Michael Jackson and the President. Pay attention, homie!
In the waiting area of 54 Sound, a state-of-the-art recording studio tucked away on a typically nondescript stretch of Detroit’s 9 Mile Road, a scenario is unfolding that few hip-hop fans could ever imagine: Eminem—rap’s contentious king of pain, the pale poster boy of beef, Mr. Anger Management himself—is in the midst of being served a barrage of snaps courtesy of a fellow entertainer. And... miraculously, he isn’t losing it. In fact, he’s laughing his ass off.
“[Eminem] should lighten up,” quips Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the infamously acerbic canine hand puppet from Late Night With Conan O’Brien, on a flat-screen TV across the room. “I mean, my mom was a bitch too, but I don’t go writing songs about it!”
Slouched in a black armchair, sipping on a 7-11 Big Gulp, the bespectacled Em LOLs like it ain’t no thing as the dog pounds his public persona. A crew of handlers chuckles along.
“But I’ll leave Eminem alone,” Triumph says with mock sensitivity before adding a final punch line. “He’s just a guy trying to make an honest living… ripping off Black culture!”
The room erupts in laughter, Em’s guffaws audibly trailing off last. Maybe at some other point in the rap superstar’s notoriously combative past, such barbs would’ve elicited a less laid-back response. But somehow this peculiar scene seems completely appropriate here and now. Having just turned 32, Eminem might finally be mature enough to take a joke at his own expense. Yet he’s still juvenile enough to enjoy the crude rants of a dog-puppet character with a funny accent. (Whereas, upon meeting him at the 2002 MTV VMAs, he shoved poor Triumph—and comedian-creator Robert Smigel—out of his way.)
For more on the dichotomy of Em look no further than the blond bomber’s new album, Encore, an exemplary effort despite the fact that the serious-minded Marshall Mathers side and sillier-than-ever Slim Shady seem to be drifting further and further apart. On the one hand, damn-near-cinematic narratives such as “Yellow Brick Road" and “Like Toy Soldiers” address last year’s controversies involving race and beef with insight and masterful storytelling skills. On the other, thoroughly bugged-out numbers like “Rain Man,” “Big Weenie” and “Ass Like That” find him avoiding serious content altogether, playfully experimenting with off-the-wall flows and random word associations with the giddiness of a kid trying out new toys on Christmas morning. For every “Mosh,” the noble anti-Bush bash designed to mobilize young voters and inspire a complacent hip-hop nation, there’s a “Just Lose It,” the LP’s predictably pop-friendly lead single sure to irritate staunch hip-hop heads as easily as it pleases the masses and moves their asses.
Speaking of “Just Lose It,” there is a high probability that you, dear reader, are aware of the brouhaha said single set off with another oft-troubled mega-star who once repped for Motown. Taking issue with the satirical portrayal of himself in the song’s video, Michael Jackson cried foul in print and over the airwaves this past October, and a number of public figures (BET’s Robert Johnson, comedian Steve Harvey, etc.) came to his side in support. Also among the MJ sympathizers, The Source magazine’s publisher David Mays and CEO Raymond “Benzino” Scott reiterated past charges that Eminem has made “a mockery” of hip-hop, and (unsuccessfully) called for him to scrap the song and publicly apologize to the King of Pop (thus, once again putting XXL in the uncomfortable position of reporting on a story that directly involves our competition).
Three days after Dubya recaptured the White House for four more years, Eminem took a few moments between screenings of Triumph’s greatest hits and his extensive production work on the latest posthumous 2Pac LP, Loyal To The Game (a project he describes as “a dream come true”), to discuss the latest batch of issues that have arisen in Encore’s wake.
In the waiting area of 54 Sound, a state-of-the-art recording studio tucked away on a typically nondescript stretch of Detroit’s 9 Mile Road, a scenario is unfolding that few hip-hop fans could ever imagine: Eminem—rap’s contentious king of pain, the pale poster boy of beef, Mr. Anger Management himself—is in the midst of being served a barrage of snaps courtesy of a fellow entertainer. And... miraculously, he isn’t losing it. In fact, he’s laughing his ass off.
“[Eminem] should lighten up,” quips Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the infamously acerbic canine hand puppet from Late Night With Conan O’Brien, on a flat-screen TV across the room. “I mean, my mom was a bitch too, but I don’t go writing songs about it!”
Slouched in a black armchair, sipping on a 7-11 Big Gulp, the bespectacled Em LOLs like it ain’t no thing as the dog pounds his public persona. A crew of handlers chuckles along.
“But I’ll leave Eminem alone,” Triumph says with mock sensitivity before adding a final punch line. “He’s just a guy trying to make an honest living… ripping off Black culture!”
The room erupts in laughter, Em’s guffaws audibly trailing off last. Maybe at some other point in the rap superstar’s notoriously combative past, such barbs would’ve elicited a less laid-back response. But somehow this peculiar scene seems completely appropriate here and now. Having just turned 32, Eminem might finally be mature enough to take a joke at his own expense. Yet he’s still juvenile enough to enjoy the crude rants of a dog-puppet character with a funny accent. (Whereas, upon meeting him at the 2002 MTV VMAs, he shoved poor Triumph—and comedian-creator Robert Smigel—out of his way.)
For more on the dichotomy of Em look no further than the blond bomber’s new album, Encore, an exemplary effort despite the fact that the serious-minded Marshall Mathers side and sillier-than-ever Slim Shady seem to be drifting further and further apart. On the one hand, damn-near-cinematic narratives such as “Yellow Brick Road" and “Like Toy Soldiers” address last year’s controversies involving race and beef with insight and masterful storytelling skills. On the other, thoroughly bugged-out numbers like “Rain Man,” “Big Weenie” and “Ass Like That” find him avoiding serious content altogether, playfully experimenting with off-the-wall flows and random word associations with the giddiness of a kid trying out new toys on Christmas morning. For every “Mosh,” the noble anti-Bush bash designed to mobilize young voters and inspire a complacent hip-hop nation, there’s a “Just Lose It,” the LP’s predictably pop-friendly lead single sure to irritate staunch hip-hop heads as easily as it pleases the masses and moves their asses.
Speaking of “Just Lose It,” there is a high probability that you, dear reader, are aware of the brouhaha said single set off with another oft-troubled mega-star who once repped for Motown. Taking issue with the satirical portrayal of himself in the song’s video, Michael Jackson cried foul in print and over the airwaves this past October, and a number of public figures (BET’s Robert Johnson, comedian Steve Harvey, etc.) came to his side in support. Also among the MJ sympathizers, The Source magazine’s publisher David Mays and CEO Raymond “Benzino” Scott reiterated past charges that Eminem has made “a mockery” of hip-hop, and (unsuccessfully) called for him to scrap the song and publicly apologize to the King of Pop (thus, once again putting XXL in the uncomfortable position of reporting on a story that directly involves our competition).
Three days after Dubya recaptured the White House for four more years, Eminem took a few moments between screenings of Triumph’s greatest hits and his extensive production work on the latest posthumous 2Pac LP, Loyal To The Game (a project he describes as “a dream come true”), to discuss the latest batch of issues that have arisen in Encore’s wake.
XXL: With your more recent records, it seems like your producing is influencing your vocals. You’re experimenting with different cadences, rhyming in melody more than ever. Is that something you’re doing consciously?
Eminem: Um, well it kind of goes back to just my ear. I seen a quote recently from Nelly where he said that there’s rappers that stay on top of the beat, there’s rappers that stay behind the beat and he wants to be inside the beat. And that would be the best way to describe it. I mean, I don’t think me and Nelly, stylistically, are similar at all. But I would definitely agree with that quote that he gave, because that’s the same way I feel as far as just wanting to be inside the beat, just hearing the melody and locking into the rhythm. Whatever the bass line is doing, whatever the drums are doing, I want to sink right into that. On TheMarshall Mathers LP I got a little better at riding beats, like staying on top of them. But on The Eminem Show I started riding the hi-hat instead of the snare or the bass drum, like with “Cleanin’ Out My Closet.” Every time I do a new song, it’s like I’m learning a new trick.
There are certain songs on this album where you seem to be more intent on having fun with flows and placing less emphasis on content. Does it ever concern you that this could come at the expense of your lyrics?
I always concentrate on lyricism, whether I’m trying to make a point or I’m just buggin’ out. A song like “Toy Soldiers” has an eight-bar drum loop that sounds like marching-band drums. I took it home and I studied the pattern that it was doing. I wrote the rhyme right to it. Just memorized the pattern and learned it by heart. I tried to make every word hit on the kicks and the snares.
It’ll usually start out, when I first start making the record, that the first five, six or seven songs will be dark, like real emotional. And then, usually at the tail end, I get in with Dre, and that’s when I start making the crazy shit. His beats do something to me. They just inspire me to say bugged-out shit. When I hear his beats, I swear his beats talk to me. So the melody, there’s no trick to it. It sounds like his beats are saying it.
Dre produced “Just Lose It,” which was one of the last songs you did for this record, correct?
Yup, it was the last song. We kinda felt like I didn’t have a first single yet with the stuff that I did here in Detroit. So [Dre and I] went down to a studio in Florida and we just banged out the rest of the album.
You obviously put a lot of care into what you do, but I feel like your personal stuff is always more compelling than the radio singles.
I feel that way too.
When I hear “Just Lose It,” I can understand why regular people like it. But it’s not the song off this album that’s going to speak to me as a hip-hop listener.
There’s a certain level where you gotta follow a happy medium. I’m not gonna put out anything that I don’t like or I don’t stand behind, but that was just another fun song. “Mosh” was the only really serious song, with a serious mood and message, that came out of that group of songs that we did [in Florida]. But you got a whole album you want to bring people to. You want as many people to hear it as possible. So if those are the tricks you gotta do to get the people to hear it, and bring them to your album…
Rap is usually based on first-week sales. Your biggest week has gotta be your first week, and then it kinda just starts declining after that. So you gotta hit ’em out the box with a single. And every now and then it doesn’t have to be a “Just Lose It” or a “Real Slim Shady.” [8 Mile’s] “Lose Yourself” came out the box and was not one of them songs that was a cheeseball—you know what I’m sayin’, meant-to-be-fun song or something like that.
There’s a certain level where you gotta follow a happy medium. I’m not gonna put out anything that I don’t like or I don’t stand behind, but that was just another fun song. “Mosh” was the only really serious song, with a serious mood and message, that came out of that group of songs that we did [in Florida]. But you got a whole album you want to bring people to. You want as many people to hear it as possible. So if those are the tricks you gotta do to get the people to hear it, and bring them to your album…
Rap is usually based on first-week sales. Your biggest week has gotta be your first week, and then it kinda just starts declining after that. So you gotta hit ’em out the box with a single. And every now and then it doesn’t have to be a “Just Lose It” or a “Real Slim Shady.” [8 Mile’s] “Lose Yourself” came out the box and was not one of them songs that was a cheeseball—you know what I’m sayin’, meant-to-be-fun song or something like that.
But can’t you take the chance of not going for that sort of single at this point? It seems like you’ve reached a level of success where you could put out a street single that’s also your commercial single, say like a Nas “Made You Look.”
Well, you know, we had discussions about that—me and Dre. And it’s not just me running that food chain. It’s not just me always calling the shots. I’m not always necessarily my own boss, so to speak. Between me, the label and Dre it’s got to be a mutual decision. Is this gonna make a big enough impact? Do we come out with this right out the jump, come out so serious and dark to where people don’t even know that the album’s out because it ain’t getting played on radio? Do you roll the dice like that? Or do you take a song like “Just Lose It” and throw it out there for the kids and for the clubs, and know that you got something like “Mosh” to follow up behind to say, This is what I want to say, this is my message? I got you to listen to me, I got your ears open. Now, here’s my song that’s gonna make a statement. Because “Just Lose It” ain’t really about nothing. Sometimes I get in them slaphappy moods where I just say anything.
What are your reflections on this whole Michael Jackson situation? It kind of came and went in a way, but some people did come out against you.
Well, I didn’t really think too much about it. I thought it was blown way out of proportion. I mean, there’s a line in there: “That’s not a stab at Michael/That’s just a metaphor/I’m just psycho”—basically [explaining] that I’ll say anything. That’s Slim Shady talking. But people don’t look at it like that a lot of times. [When we shot the video] we started trying to think of ’80s pop icons I could dress up as—obviously Michael being one of ’em, and Madonna—which is not the most enjoyable thing to do [laughs]. But you wanna get people’s goat, and you wanna make people laugh and all that shit.
Hey, you did it for Michigan.
[Laughs] Yeah… no doubt! I guess [Michael’s] very sensitive and he probably felt like he got it the worst. We pretty much thought it was equaled out throughout the video. I’m doing MC Hammer moves, the Pee Wee Herman thing. Obviously, this is a joke.
On His Drug Addiction: “I wasn’t really mentally. I wasn’t ready to give up drugs. I didn’t really think I had a problem. Basically, I went in, and I came out. I relapsed, and I spent the next three years struggling with it. Also, at that time, I felt like I wanted to pull back, because my drug problem had got so bad. I felt like, maybe if I take a break, maybe this will help. I started to get into the producer role more…I can still be out there with my music, like with the Re-Up album, but I don’t have to be in the spotlight the whole time.”
On Proof’s Death: “Everyone felt his loss, from his kids, to his wife, to everyone. But, for some reason, in hindsight, the way I felt was almost like it happened to just me… Maybe at the time I was a little bit selfish with it. I think it kind of hit me so hard. It just blindsided me. I just went into such a dark place that, with everything, the drugs, my thoughts, everything. And the more drugs I consumed, and it was all depressants I was taking, the more depressed I became, the more self-loathing I became… By the way, I’m just now at the point where I’m better talking about it. It took me so long to get out of that place where I couldn’t even speak about it without crying or wanting to cry… Proof was the anchor. He was everything to D12. And not just the group-for me, personally, he was everything.”
On T.I., Lil Wayne & Hip-Hop: “I stayed up on the music, and obviously I watch TV and saw what was going on. And without naming any name, it just felt like hip-hop was going downhill. And it seemed like kinda fast. You know, in them three years, it was like everybody just cares about the hook and the beat; nobody really cares about substance. But with this new T.I. album, with this new Lil Wayne album of recent, it seems like things are looking a lot better now. You can appreciate Lil Wayne using different words to rhyme and actually rhyming words that you know. Or T.I., where you hear shit and you’re like Whoa, ah, I wish I would have thought of that! You know what I mean? Or you hear all the compound-syllable rhyming and all that. It just seems like now the craft is getting cared about more.”
EMINEM VIBE MAGAZINE "REAL RAP" JUNE ISSUE
In the June 2009 VIBE magazine - Eminem talks about how he almost killed himself while taking a variety of pills, but now he is back and ready to take over the rap game again!Arizona Cardinals no longer have an Edge
The Arizona Cardinals no longer have an Edge. The team cut four-time Pro Bowl running back Edgerrin James today, a move that many had been expecting throughout the offseason.
Despite the seemingly imminent move, the Cardinals had ignored James' requests for an earlier release. Arizona finally acquiesced three days after using a first-round draft pick on "The" Ohio State running back Chris "Beanie" Wells.
Coming off a storied seven-year NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts, James was one of the league's top free-agent signings in 2006 when he landed a four-year, $30.5 million contract in Arizona.
James rushed for more than 1,100 yards in his first two Cardinals seasons, but was relegated to a complementary role for most of last year, playing alongside rookie Tim Hightower. James had a late-season resurgence, rushing for 100 yards in a Week 17 victory over Seattle and 73 yards in playoff wins versus Atlanta and Philadelphia. James started and had nine rushes for 33 yards in Arizona's loss to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLIII.
No matter how well he played in the postseason, James had no future in Arizona. The two-time All-Pro selection wanted out of Arizona last fall after having his playing time slashed, while the Cardinals had no interest in paying James a $5 million base salary in 2009.
"E.J. is excited about signing with a new team," agent Drew Rosenhaus told FOXSports.com in a text message. "So far, several teams have expressed interest. We may have a deal in place in the very near future." Cincinnati, New Orleans, Kansas City, Cleveland and Seattle are teams that could use upgrades at running back.
James, who turns 31 in August, is one of the most productive rushers in league history. His 12,121 yards rank 11th on the NFL's all-time list. He is 123 yards from supplanting Marcus Allen in the Top 10
Despite the seemingly imminent move, the Cardinals had ignored James' requests for an earlier release. Arizona finally acquiesced three days after using a first-round draft pick on "The" Ohio State running back Chris "Beanie" Wells.
Coming off a storied seven-year NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts, James was one of the league's top free-agent signings in 2006 when he landed a four-year, $30.5 million contract in Arizona.
James rushed for more than 1,100 yards in his first two Cardinals seasons, but was relegated to a complementary role for most of last year, playing alongside rookie Tim Hightower. James had a late-season resurgence, rushing for 100 yards in a Week 17 victory over Seattle and 73 yards in playoff wins versus Atlanta and Philadelphia. James started and had nine rushes for 33 yards in Arizona's loss to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLIII.
No matter how well he played in the postseason, James had no future in Arizona. The two-time All-Pro selection wanted out of Arizona last fall after having his playing time slashed, while the Cardinals had no interest in paying James a $5 million base salary in 2009.
"E.J. is excited about signing with a new team," agent Drew Rosenhaus told FOXSports.com in a text message. "So far, several teams have expressed interest. We may have a deal in place in the very near future." Cincinnati, New Orleans, Kansas City, Cleveland and Seattle are teams that could use upgrades at running back.
James, who turns 31 in August, is one of the most productive rushers in league history. His 12,121 yards rank 11th on the NFL's all-time list. He is 123 yards from supplanting Marcus Allen in the Top 10
Eminem's Relapse Album Cover
Eminem's just-released artwork for his upcoming album Relapse makes us long for the days of the vinyl LP. What better way to take in the prescription pill-laced collage of Slim Shady? On his own Twitter page, Eminem himself writes "This is getting very real..." and includes a link to the image that you can see here. The artwork is a close-up head shot of Em over a black background, with his face being a mosaic of hundreds of little pills and capsules. Eminem has spoken publicly about an addiction to prescription drugs, which included a well-publicized stint in rehab and a later relapse - hence, the title. Though it may be difficult to read, the sticker on the lower-left hand corner of the cover is a de facto part of the artwork. It reads "Mathers, Marshall, 8 Mile Road, Detroit, Michigan," "Refills: 5-19-09," "Prescribed By Dr. Dre."4.25.2009
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