USDA2DAY Staff's Blog – October 2008 Archive (207)

Tiger, Jordan, LeBron Make Top 20 Most Powerful People in Sports

In BusinessWeek's October 13th issue they announce the "Power 100," a list of the 100 most powerful people in sports. The magazine asked 25 panelists of athletes, executives, marketers, writers, and academics to rank their top 20 out of 300 names . They were asked to consider how each individual rates vs. his or her peers; how much money each controls, generates, or influences; and the breadth and staying power of their impact.

In the #1… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 3, 2008 at 12:26pm — 3 Comments

Reporter Fired For Wearing Obama T-shirt

After 13 years as a radio reporter at WWJ (950 AM) in Detroit, Karen Dinkins was let go on Monday. The reason: she wore a pro-Obama t-shirt while covering a rally for the station on Sunday.

Reached by telephone, Dinkins acknowledged that she wore the shirt, and that the radio station fired her Monday. But she declined to elaborate.

“I don’t want to comment at this time,” she said.

Georgeann Herbert, WWJ’s director of… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 3, 2008 at 12:19pm — 11 Comments

T.I. Outside Virgin MegaStore in NY: “Go inside and buy my album”

J.D., owner of HipHopUpdate blog spotted T.I. and his artist Big Kuntry walking around greeting fans outside the Virgin MegaStore in Times Square yesterday.

Both T.I. and Kuntry’s albums dropped on Tuesday. T.I.’s album, Paper Trail, will top the charts next week with over 500K in sales. Kuntry’s debut CD, My Turn To Eat, will do decent sales with his disc on display in stores right next to… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 3, 2008 at 12:17pm — 7 Comments

T.I. COVERS GIANT MAG

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 3, 2008 at 12:14pm — 1 Comment

ERYKAH BADU PREGNANT WITH 3RD CHILD: Singer broke the news last weekend at Austin City Limits festival.

*The New York Daily News is reporting that soulful songstress Erykah Badu is expecting her third child.

The R&B star reportedly revealed the news over the weekend at the Austin City Limits festival, where she performed Saturday in a smiley-face t-shirt that exposed her baby bump.

Badu, 37, has a 10-year-old son named Seven Sirius, with Outkast's Andre 'Andre 3000' Benjamin; and a 4-year-old daughter named Puma Rose, with rapper The… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 3, 2008 at 12:10pm — 5 Comments

East 87th Street arson suspect Antun Lewis has violent past

CLEVELAND -- The man accused of starting Cleveland's deadliest house fire is a dope peddler with a quick, violent temper that explodes so often that even his fellow prison inmates had reason to fear.

Authorities spoke only sparingly about Antun Lewis, 24, today after a federal grand jury indicted him on a charge of arson resulting in nine deaths in connection with the East 87th Street fire on May 21, 2005.

But records and… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 1:51pm — 3 Comments

L.A. County sheriff's deputy charged in sexual torture of his wife, 2nd man

After tricking his wife into introducing him to her lover, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy held the couple captive overnight at an Irvine apartment complex where he beat them, forced them to undress at knife point and ordered the woman to castrate her younger suitor, authorities alleged Wednesday.

Deputy Robert A. McClain then allegedly sodomized his wife and chopped off her hair with the knife, Orange County prosecutors… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 1:50pm — 10 Comments

BET'S RAP CITY IS DONE

BET network has confirmed plans to cancel its long-running Hip-Hop series Rap City, effective by the end of this month.

Created by broadcasting veteran Alvin Jones in 1989, the video series chronicled Hip-Hop’s growing video music market, competing directly with Yo! MTV Raps.

The fledgling series was able to distinguish itself from its larger MTV competitor by not just focusing on mainstream rappers, but also… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 1:43pm — 15 Comments

Another family is hurting' after drive-by shooting suspect commits suicide in standoff

GRAND RAPIDS — After the drive-by murder of a 16-year-old boy he did not know, Kyle Keenan — alone and on the lam — made a phone call to relatives talking about heaven and suicide.

"He was asking the family would he still go to heaven if he committed suicide. We told him, 'Don't kill yourself, boy,'" said his uncle, Larry Keenan.

Tuesday afternoon Larry Keenan recalled those words moments… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 1:30pm — 6 Comments

JAY-Z RECOGNIZED AT THE Global Leadership Awards

Honoree and recipient of the ‘Champions Of The Millennium Goals Award’ rapper and entrepreneur Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter attends 2008 Global Leadership Awards gala at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel Wednesday in New York City.

Carter received the award for his visionary leadership of “Water for Life” and his partnership with… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 1:16pm — 5 Comments

OBAMA COVERS VIBE MAGAZINE

In the November issue of Vibe, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama urges readers to vote, saying “We are at a defining moment in our history.” He continues..

“I am running for president to take this country in a new direction. But I can’t do it alone. I need you. Whether it’s the first time, or the first time in a long time, I need you to register and vote on November 4.”

This marks the first presidential endorsement ever made… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 1:11pm — 1 Comment

Hip-Hop Record Sales Low; Rebound Possible With Kanye and Ludacris Albums

Record labels are approaching another financially weak year, as a minimum of 200 million albums in the last quarter is now required in order to break even with last year’s low total.

According to Variety, the music industry officially closed out with a total of 297.9 million albums sold for the third quarter making it already 12 percent less than the previous year. 2007 saw a total of 500.5 million in sales with over 30 percent of the records… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 1:09pm — 1 Comment

KANYE'S HBO PROJECT IN LIMBO?: Director Larry Charles says pilot has been shot, but may be too 'hardcore' for the cable channel.

*Filmmaker Larry Charles tells ComingSoon.com that he's already shot a pilot for the currently-untitled Kanye West project on HBO, but the jury is still out as to whether or not it will ever air.

Describing the pilot as similar to HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" with West as a "black Larry David," Charles said, "It's kind of improvised about the situations and stuff.

"It was really good, but again I think it was too hardcore for… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 1:06pm — No Comments

NE-YO WANTS HIS LIFE STORY ON FILM: Singer is plotting a motion picture "as we speak."

*R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo, who last month released his new album "Year of the Gentleman," says he's currently working on a film that is based on his life story.

He compares the project to Eminem's 2002 biopic "8 Mile," which was "inspired" by the Detroit rapper's early path toward stardom.

"We are putting together the (film) right now as we speak, as a matter of fact," the artist tells Rap-up.com. "The name of the movie is… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 1:04pm — No Comments

Kanye West REMIXES “Love Lockdown”

STAY TUNED AS SOON AS WE GET IT WE WILL POST IT FOR YALL

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 1:01pm — 3 Comments

Florida Is Buggin: $1,000 Speeding Fines Starts Tomorrow! "Why Stop When You Gon Get $1K Ticket, You Minus Well Keep Going"

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 12:42pm — 2 Comments

Laila Ali Debuts Her New Son

Laila Ali and her hubby Curtis gave OK! mag the first look at her newborn son Curtis Muhammad Conway Jr. Too precious at only a month old.

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

Tyler Perry and Taraji Henson Are Engaged?

Trust me, I know this one smells like a publicity stunt. But too many industry heads are talking, so there must be something to it.

In fact, the source who gave me this info also gave me a hot tip two weeks ago — which I chose to dismiss — and by the next day, the story was on every blog.

This source is responsible for a few of my hottest scoops which the national media picked up on. She is no joke when it comes to dispensing… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 2, 2008 at 12:30pm — 11 Comments

Jay-Z To Perform free and donate proceeds to Obama campaign

It's no secret that Jay-Z loves Barack Obama. He's putting his money — or time, at least — where his mouth is this weekend. He's throwing two free concerts in support of the presidential candidate. He'll perform in Detroit this Saturday, and then he's flying to Miami to do another show Sunday. The tickets will be available at the local Obama campaign office.

Recently on MTV, Barack Obama expressed admiration for the entrepreneurial spirit of… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 1, 2008 at 1:41pm — 2 Comments

New Videos: Lil Wayne & Bobby V (Behind The Scenes)

Mrs Officer Music Video (Behind the Scene)

Lil Wayne and Bobby Valentino shot the video for “Miss Officer” down in Miami earlier this month. Here is a Behind the Scenes look at the video shoot. (Mad at Wayne for tonguing the video chick down in the back of the whip. I’m sure that won’t make the cut… Continue

Added by USDA2DAY Staff on October 1, 2008 at 1:37pm — 3 Comments