skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Rapper Lloyd Banks has been arrested on suspicion of assault in Canada. The G-Unit star was taken into custody by police in Ontario at the weekend after allegedly attacking club promoter Chris Hines.
Hines booked Banks to perform several tracks at Club N.V. but he arrived late and only played one song before leaving the stage, according to AllHipHop.com. But trouble ensued when Hines refused to pay Banks for the gig, reportedly prompting a fight between the promoter and the rapper, who had been accompanied by three associates.
Hines was admitted to a local hospital and treated for multiple contusions and head trauma.
Banks was arrested alongside pals Shaun McGee, Tyrell Cooper and Nicholas Sloan and the four men are now facing charges of assault, robbery and forced confinement.
Near the end of the hit film "Avatar," the villain snarls at the hero, "How does it feel to betray your own race?" Both men are white — although the hero is inhabiting a blue-skinned, 9-foot-tall, long-tailed alien.
Strange as it may seem for a film that pits greedy, immoral humans against noble denizens of a faraway moon, "Avatar" is being criticized by a small but vocal group of people who allege it contains racist themes — the white hero once again saving the primitive natives.
Since the film opened to widespread critical acclaim three weeks ago, hundreds of blog posts, newspaper articles, tweets and YouTube videos have said things such as the film is "a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people" and that it reinforces "the white Messiah fable."
The film's writer and director, James Cameron, says the real theme is about respecting others' differences.
In the film (read no further if you don't want the plot spoiled for you) a white, paralyzed Marine, Jake Sully, is mentally linked to an alien's body and set loose on the planet Pandora. His mission: persuade the mystic, nature-loving Na'vi to make way for humans to mine their land for unobtanium, worth $20 million per kilo back home.
Like Kevin Costner in "Dances with Wolves" and Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai" or as far back as Jimmy Stewart in the 1950 Western "Broken Arrow," Sully soon switches sides. He falls in love with the Na'vi princess and leads the bird-riding, bow-and-arrow-shooting aliens to victory over the white men's spaceships and mega-robots.
Bogle, the film historian, said that he was glad Cameron made the film and that it made people think about race.
"Maybe there is something he does want to say and put across" about race, Bogle said. "Maybe if he had a black hero in there, that point would have been even stronger."
R&B singer Keyshia Cole has more than one reason to celebrate the New Year - she is engaged and expecting her first child with fiance, basketball star Daniel 'Boobie' Gibson.
Cole, 28, and the Cleveland Cavaliers player, 23, became engaged on New Year's Eve.
Her spokesperson has confirmed the baby news after weeks of speculation, adding the proposal was "an absolute surprise".
The representative tells UsMagazine.com, "When he asked her to marry him, she was flabbergasted. He presented her with the ring and her mouth dropped in amazement. It's too beautiful for words."
On ''5th Jan at Night" singer Keyshia first sparked speculation she was pregnant with Gibson's baby in November when she was spotted sporting a rounder figure at a party. Last month, she showed off her bulging belly at a Christmas charity event in California, but refused to confirm reports she was with child.
Cole and Gibson have been dating for less than a year.
R&B superstar Usher has been dealt a New Year's blow - his upcoming album has leaked online more than two months before its expected release date.
The "Yeah!" hitmaker's sixth studio release, Raymond vs. Raymond, was scheduled for release in Europe in February and the U.S. in March.
But label executives at LaFace Records and its parent company Sony Music may have to rethink their plans after the whole project surfaced on the internet last week.
Usher's album leak comes weeks after 50 Cent suffered a similar setback - his latest CD, Before I Self Destruct, appeared online a month before it was due to hit music retailers in November.
Music executives at Sony have launched an investigation in a bid to find the person responsible for releasing a Michael Jackson / Lenny Kravitz duet without authorization. Kravitz has spoken out about the track, which leaked onto the internet over the weekend, explaining he worked with the King of Pop on the track, "Another Day".
In a video posted on his website, Kravitz reveals he hopes a final version of the song will be released once the investigation is complete.
The rocker says, "I just want to reach out to you so I can set the record straight regarding the Michael Jackson track 'Another Day'. As you know and have heard, part of the song leaked - not by me because mine has been locked in a vault since we recorded it. The version that's out is a minute and 30 seconds roughly of the track, not mixed, but is it the track.
"The DJ who's speaking over the track - I don't know who that person is. I don't know how they obtained it. I don't know what their purpose is but that person has nothing to do with the track. The song was recorded by Michael and myself. I produced it for him. I wrote the song and I played all the instruments on the track."
Kravitz reveals he's immensely proud of the finished tune: "It was one of the most amazing music experiences that I've ever had. It was done by two people who respect each other and love music.
"I'd like to see this thing get straightened out as soon as possible because I'd like for you the fans and people who love Michael to hear the track in it's entirety, the way it was meant to be (and) the way Michael and I had intended it to be. That's all being worked out."
Jackson's former record bosses at Sony, with the support of the late star's estate lawyers, are working to have the song pulled off the internet.
Rap mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs is starting the New Year with a new legal problem - he's been named in a copyright infringement lawsuit over a billboard featured in his hit movie Notorious.
Veteran model Angelyne filed papers in the U.S. District Court of Los Angeles on Monday after she noticed one of her famous Los Angeles billboards - advertising herself - was included in scenes for the 2009 biopic about late rapper Notorious B.I.G.
The busty blonde, real name Angyline Angelyne is demanding $100,000 in damages for what she claims was the unauthorized use of her image.
Diddy's Bad Boy Films is named as a defendant, alongside Fox Searchlight Pictures and State Street Pictures, reports AllHipHop.com.
The lawsuit reads, "At no time has Angelyne authorized any of the defendants to reproduce, or adapt distribute any image containing her copyrighted billboard for use in the Notorious motion picture."
Rapper T.I. is wasting no time following his release from prison last week - he headed straight into the recording studio to lay down some new songs.
The "Live Your Life" hitmaker, real name Clifford Harris, Jr., was transferred from an incarceration facility in Arkansas to a halfway house near his home in Atlanta, Georgia last Tuesday, after serving time for weapons possession.
He is living out the remainder of his 366-day sentence in more comfortable surroundings at Dismas Charities Atlanta West, where he is allowed out to work during the day, and T.I. is making the most of his newfound freedom.
According to GlobalGrind.com, music executive Kevin Liles alerted fans on his Twitter.com page that new T.I. music will soon be on the way.
He wrote: "My right hand (T.I.) went home to visit family & found his way to the studio. He said, 'Why wait for 2010, get it in now'. Love the attitude!"
