Chaka Khan Is NOT Beefing With Lindsay Lohan

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From the L.A. Times:

Covering Lindsay Lohan’s ongoing legal troubles and recent (court-ordered) trip to rehab have become sport for gossip rags.

But one headline we didn’t expect to see: news that the troubled actress got into a tiff with renowned soul-funk singer Chaka Khan.

The two reportedly feuded during a rehab stint at Cliffside Malibu, forcing Khan to leave the treatment center early due to “disruptive behavior” from Lohan.

“Chaka was really cool about everything at Cliffside, but Lindsay just pushed all of her buttons to the point where she was aggravated and tired of Lindsay’s …,” a former patient told Radar.

“Lindsay was just doing stupid stuff for attention, so Chaka told her she was childish and told her to grow up. She never lost it, but started yelling at Lindsay. Told her to knock it off, asking her if she came to rehab to get well, or just to piss around.”

Khan, who has long been vocal about her struggles with alcoholism and drug abuse, took to her website to address the rumors.

In a statement, the singer commended Lohan for getting help and promised the actress that ” ‘Ain’t Nobody’ gonna tear” their love apart, which Lohan embraced with a Twitter reply that she was sending the singer “love and hugs.”

“To choose to do what is necessary to better one’s self is commendable. I applaud Lindsay Lohan for doing the work. She is a lovely young lady and I pray for her well-being,” Khan wrote. “The battle of addiction is a serious and long process, which is why I chose to address my use of prescription medications — which came about as a result of the knee surgery I had a few years ago.

“When and if necessary, I will seek alternative methods and traditional treatment to stay ahead of any potential problem. So many are not here today, and have lost this battle with addiction,” the statement continued. “Because these medications are legal, their abuse is often unknown — until it’s too late. If not handled they are a silent killer.”

Oprah Winfrey Reportedly Denied Service In Switzerland On Account Of Racism

From BBC:

US talk show host Oprah Winfrey says she was the victim of racism during a recent visit to Switzerland.

She said an assistant refused to serve her in an upmarket handbag shop in Zurich.

Winfrey, one of the world’s richest women, was apparently told one of the bags was “too expensive” for her.

Her claims, made to a US television programme, come amid a political row over plans by some Swiss towns to ban asylum seekers from some public places.

The BBC’s Imogen Foulkes in Berne says human rights groups have likened the plans – which include banning asylum seekers from swimming pools, playing fields and libraries – to apartheid.

Winfrey, who stars in Lee Daniels’ new film The Butler, visited Zurich last month to attend singer Tina Turner’s wedding. The Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Switzerland.

Winfrey said she left the shop calmly without arguing, but that the experience was proof that racism continues to be a problem.

“There’s two different ways to handle it,” she said.

“I could’ve had the whole blow-up thing… but it still exists, of course it does.”

Shop owner Trudie Gotz told the BBC that an assistant had shown Winfrey several other items before the “misunderstanding” over a $35,000 (£22,500) bag, which was kept behind a screen.

Winfrey’s claims are a public relations disaster for Switzerland, our correspondent says.

About 48,000 people are currently seeking asylum in Switzerland. It has twice as many asylum seekers as the European average.

Officials say the curbs, which will also see asylum seekers housed in special centres, are aimed at preventing tensions with residents.

The country’s asylum laws were tightened in June.

Beyonce Gets A New Haircut; The World Reportedly Stops

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Beyonce got a new haircut. There. We acknowledged it.

On a sidenote, there were a few hilarious Tweets on the matter, which we included below.


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Nas Launches Fire Victim Fundraiser

Last month, D.C. resident Stanley Young and his eight children lost their home to a fire. Nas learned about Young’s misfortune and launched a donation page for the family. His goal is to raise $50,000. You can help the family by contributing here.

This is real. It is me. I’m putting in $5,000 myself. Never done something like this, but I have faith that our American community can pull together a miracle for this strong family who needs our help right now.

I know this is just one family out of millions, and we aren’t solving a global problem. But I believe that a happy ending to a story like this can be the beginning of something bigger for our communities. Everyone, if they can, should lend a hand to our fellow man in their times of need. We’ve all been truly blessed, and the least we can do is to pass those blessings forward.

JAY Z & Dame Dash Reunite

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Don’t know if anything other than the good reunion of friends will come out of this, but this is as good as Hip-Hop gets (remember how you felt when Nas & Jay reunited on stage? That’s what I mean). I can’t wait for one of these two explains how this came to happen.

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Drake Covers XXL’s 150th Issue

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You can read more over at XXL.

XXL celebrates a very special issue this month: It’s the magazine’s 150th and 16th anniversary issue and Drake’s first solo cover. Yeah, it’s a big deal, and this is a great issue. It’s been 16 years since Jay Z and Master P both graced split covers of the first XXL. This month’s cover subject, Drake, was just 10 years old. Fast forward to 2013 and he’s one of the biggest rappers in hip-hop. And he’s currently prepping the release of his in-demand third album, Nothing Was The Same (Young Money/Cash Money/Universal) for September 17.

Discussing everything from his new album and his relationships with other rappers and celebrities to his return to acting and his overall success, the Toronto MC was open and honest with writer Thomas Golianopoulos during their two-hour interview. Here are a few quotes from the exclusive interview.

Future Renames Album & Announces Release Date

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Future has changed the title of his sophomore album, now titled Honest, which will be released on November 26th via Epic Records. You can listen to his Metro Boomin/DJ Spinz-produced first single tonight at midnight via Upstream.

Honest is the new me. It represents the truth I try to bring to my music. I plan to break the mold with this album so that it will be nothing like you’ve heard from me or any other artist out. You can either tell the truth or face the Future.

Michelle Obama Turns To Hip-Hop To Push Her Nutrition Platform

This is pretty cool: 1st Lady Michelle Obama has always been focuses on bringing good health and nutrition to America, particularly its children, and now, she has tapped into Hip-Hop culture to push her message forward. Mrs. Obama (along with Hip-Hop Public Health and Partnership for a Healthier America) will be releasing an album — 19 songs and 10 music videos — called Healthier America, which drops on September 30th. Amongst the features will include our legendary Scientologist Doug E. Fresh, singer Jordin Sparks and more (even Dr. Oz will be bringing his knowledge into the mix).

Check out the latest clip from Obama’s campaign above.

Ransom Claims He Wrote Nicki Minaj’s Raps; Nicki Minaj Blasts Back (Video)

From TMZ:

Nicki Minaj WENT BALLISTIC last night — dropping some atomic hatred on a rapper who may have been talking smack about her … depending on who you believe.

The drama involves a rapper named Ransom — who famously worked with Nicki in the past on several songs.

Ransom recently released a new song called “Man Alone” which contained the lyric, “Before Nicki was wearing those crazy wigs, I was doing verses for her, just hoping she made it big.”

After the song came out, there were reports on several sites — including AllHipHop.com (a pretty reputable rap site) — suggesting Ransom was basically saying he had ghostwritten some of Nicki’s songs … which is a HUGE insult. In fact, it’s one of the worst things you could say to a rapper.

So, when we asked Nicki about the situation last night — she went insane … crushing Ransom as a liar who’s “f**king desperate.”

“Yo, I’m not even a man and n**gas got my d*ck in their mouth,” Nicki said.

It goes on and she gets angrier — you gotta watch the clip.

Now, here’s the problem — Ransom says the lyric was NOT meant as a diss. After the song came out, he tweeted, “As far as I know she writes her own [lyrics].”

So, is he suggesting that “doing verses for her” just meant that he was donating his time by rapping on songs for Nicki before she got famous? Or was Ransom saying he WAS her ghostwriter … and now he’s just backtracking??

Either way … Nicki’s pissed.

ALBUM SALES: Robin Thicke & Tech N9ne

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Robin Thicke really shut things down this week in what might be his best first week ever (too lazy to check), selling over 170,000 units in, mainly off of the success of his number one hit, the T.I. and Pharrell-assisted ‘Blurred Lines’. Also on the list: Tech N9ne, who comes in at a respectable number 4 for his new album Something Else (selling over 55,000 units). You can check out plenty more here.

ARTWORK: Rapsody – She Got Game

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I can’t wait for this: Rapsody’s DJ Drama-assisted She Got Game drops August 20th. Above is her artwork for the project (courtesy of 2DopeBoyz), which she describes below.

“In the game of basketball, Cheryl Miller is such an iconic figure because of what she helped do for women in the game. She is one of the players who showed that the girls could play just as well as the guys, and sometimes better. She even played with the USBL for a while, which was a guys league. So, I wanted to recreate this photo as a representation that whether we are talking about the art of rhyme, deejaying, basketball, or medicine, at some point gender shouldn’t matter. In this game no matter what your gender, color, religion or what have you, it should only be about the product; it’s good or it’s not.”

Chris Brown Goes Into Jail…And Leaves Out 45 Minutes Later

From TMZ:

Chris Brown pulled a fast one Monday … turning himself in at an L.A. jail for his hit-and-run case — a day ahead of schedule.

TMZ has learned … Brown showed up at the Van Nuys jail at around 2 PM. We’re told his lawyer, Mark Geragos, engineered it all and the purpose was to make it happen without any photogs present.

Brown was booked and released on his own recognizance — no bail. We’re told the whole thing took around 45 minutes.

Now here’s what’s interesting … Just a few hours earlier, there was a gaggle of photogs at the courthouse which is connected to the jail, because 50 Cent made a court appearance. When the cameras were gone, Chris appeared.

He even hit the club later that night (above). Celebrities.

North Carolina Pastor Fired….For Going To A Rick Ross Concert

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These (*ahem* some of you *ahem*) church folks get more and more hilarious each day. Today’s ridiculous news story comes from the Mt. Salem Baptist Church, courtesy of Guardian Express:

Pastor Rodney Wills was just nearing four years at Mt. Salem Baptist Church in North Carolina. He is the youngest pastor to be installed at 26 years old and is now the shortest term pastor in Mt. Salem’s 109 year history. On Saturday, Mt. Salem voted him out for attending a local Rick Ross concert. With a vote of 11 to 3, the 14 deacons met at 11 o’clock Saturday night to discuss and come to a conclusion that they did not need his services anymore.

Rev. Wills arrived to the church the next day for Sunday morning worship service and notice his parking sign taken down and his name removed from the office door. The deacons even asked another minister from the community to officiate the service that morning.

“We cannot have our leader supporting people of this world who are tearing down the kingdom of God.” said Deacon Miles Langley.

According to Deacon Langley, this is not the first time Rev. Wills has attended a concert while pastoring Mt. Salem. 9 months ago the diaconate board met with Rev. Wills when word was given to them that many youth and young adults spotted the pastor at a Lil’ Wayne concert.

“We know that many saints will have mixed opinions from our actions, but this is not how we do things here at Mt. Salem. We cannot have a pastor praising the world one minute then praising the Lord the next. Period” said Deacon Langley.

Yelawolf Calls Out Macklemore For Biting His Deer Logo

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Yelawolf took to his Facebook to air his grievances about another Caucasian emcee that he feels is treading on his logo territory (unedited):

In a Sea of about 20,000 plus people this fan walked up to me yesterday and asked me for a photo .. I saw the Buck logo but didn’t remember making the shirt ..I took the photo then said let me see that that shirt .. GET THE BUCK OUTTA HERE !!! .. Are you kidding me @maclemore ? I confronted him after his set .. And he said its 5 or 6 years old .. And ask ” are we cool ?” He’s a fan obviously so whatever …. Look if y’all see this shirt out there call it out .. 4,5,6 years old don’t matter .. She was wearing it yesterday .. THATS OUR SHIT BE CLAER ! .. POSERS .. ‪#‎SLUMERICAN‬

Dude. It’s a deer. I don’t get it, man.

Usher’s Son In ICU After Pool Accident

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From TMZ:

Usher’s son Usher Raymond V is in the ICU at an Atlanta hospital after a serious accident in the singer’s pool Monday, TMZ has learned.

Sources tell TMZ, the accident occurred around 6 PM yesterday. Usher was not home at the time.

5-year-old Usher Raymond V is the oldest of Usher’s two sons with ex-wife Tameka Raymond. We’re told Usher and Tameka are currently at the hospital.

According to sources, the boy took in a lot of water in his lungs and underwent some form of resuscitation.

Doctors have been running a series of tests and so far it looks like he’ll be ok.

This is the second accident to strike children in Usher’s family. Tameka’s 11-year-old son Kile from a previous relationship passed away last year from injuries sustained during a jet ski accident.

Big Boi Will Be Joining ‘Celebrity Big Brother’

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I think this will officially mark the end of Big Boi’s legendary career as we know it. From MSN:

Outkast rapper Big Boi is set to follow in the footsteps of fellow hip-hop stars Coolio and Sisqo after signing up to appear in the latest series of the U.K.’s “Celebrity Big Brother.”

The star, real name Antwan Patton, has inked a $450,000 deal with bosses at Britain’s Channel 5 network to join the fly-on-the wall reality TV show, which will begin airing later this month.

A source tells Britain’s the Sun, “Producers always like to mix things up with an American star and they hope Big Boi will do the business this year.”

Big Boi will join other celebrity contestants including Five singer Abz Love and model Sophie Anderton. Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, is also reportedly on board for the 12th season of the show.