Birdman Might Be Getting Into The Boxing Business; Spotted With Manny Pacquiao

From Knockout Nation:

Manny Pacquiao is getting ready for his big rematch fight with Tim Bradley later this spring. And, while the heat is increasing in temperature, something else happened yesterday. Baby, the CEO of Cash Money, paid Pac Man a visit. Nobody really knows why and a lot of folks in the boxing community have balked at the notion of Birdman even being around the champ. Nevertheless, there are rumors already sprouting that one of Cash Money is going to be leading Manny in the ring for his April 12 rematch with Bradley.

But, on the flip side, there are rumors that Bradley will be escorted out to the ring by an underground emcee with a lot of clout. We can’t say right now, but this rapper’s stock will jump in leap and bounds after this one.

Six Die Of Drug Overdose At Music Festival

From The Star (Malaysia):

KUALA LUMPUR: Six people have died while three others are in critical condition due to methamphetamine overdose at the Future Music Festival Asia 2014 at Bukit Jalil Stadium.

City police chief Senior Deputy Comm Datuk Mohmad Salleh said the nine, ages from 21 to 28, collapsed during Friday’s event after consuming drugs at around 1.30am.

One person died on the spot in Bukit Jalil while another died on the way to the hospital. Four others died at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC ) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital (HUKM).

Another four people, two of whom are in a coma, are in critical condition at both hospitals SDCP Mohmad said.

“All tested positive for high levels of drugs and the deaths have been classified as overdose.

“Throughout the two-days we arrested 22 people, three foreigners and seven locals, in possession of narcotics.

“In view of this incident and for the interest of public safety, we have advised the organisers to cancel Saturday’s event. Those who bought tickets should contact the organisers for refunds,” Mohmad said.

Headliners for this year’s festival included Deadmau5, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Pharrell, the latter of which didn’t perform due to the festival’s cancellation.

Delaware Rapper Comes Under Fire For Using Unauthorized ScHoolboy Q Verse; Rapper Responds

Interesting story here…

Delaware emcee Jem Cretes recently dropped a tune featuring ScHoolboy Q titled ‘Hustle 101‘…after several websites posted the song, ScHoolboy Q then took to his Twitter to not only condemn the track, but he also threatened to have Black Hippy boycott all sites that supported the track’s release.

Needless to say, a large majority pulled the song.

Jem Cretes (as well as another individual involved with the track) responded in defense; you can check all of that up top. Cretes even dropped a response in-song that you can check out here.

Who knows who’s lying, but it’s definitely a tough situation for the accused at this point. Sheesh.

Paul George Apparently Got Catfished After Sending Nude Selfies To A Gay Man

I’ll just post what we spotted at Complex and I won’t go any further (look for the nude photos yourself):

The thirst trap could get anybody regardless of the tax bracket, ethnicity, and profession. Paul George is (allegedly) the latest victim.

The star’s negative attention isn’t only because of his poor 2-for-10 shooting performance against the Grizzlies last night, although it certainly didn’t help. George apparently got catfished. The catfisher, who goes by “Paul,” purposely sends pictures of a thick Caucasian woman to get guys (celebrities and athletes) to send revealing pictures. He then post the pictures on his Tumblr page. It looks like George is his latest victim.

There’s also images of penises on the page as well, but of course, there’s no way to tell if one of them is from George.

Kelly Rowland Left Universal Republic (By Choice)

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Spotted on Always A List:

Online reports surfaced earlier this week claiming Grammy winner Kelly Rowland had been dropped by record label, Universal Republic. The rumors began when blog sites noticed she was on longer featured on the label’s website.

Apparently, when the 33-year-old vocalist signed on to be a judge for the third season of “The X-Factor,” her team asked the label to release a new single to capitalize off the eight million viewers the show averaged each week. The label chose not to capitalize off of Rowland’s involvement on the show and the singer asked to be released from her contact.

Universal Republic quietly allowed Rowland to become a free agent in December 2013. Unbeknownst to fans, the singer has already been recording new tracks for a fifth studio album and has been entertaining new offers from record companies interested in signing her.

You can read more on the story here.

RECAP: King Los’ ‘Zero Gravity 2’ Listening Party (PICS)

Shoutout to AKW PR for the heads up on this event….check out a few snapshots of King Los’ private listening session for his forthcoming mixtape, Zero Gravity II, which went down at Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan, NYC. Guests included Fred The Godson, Corey Gunz, Peter Gunz, Young Jack Thriller and Emilio Rojas.

“Zero Gravity II is one of my best works to date,” King Los explains, “This album is introspective and comes from a real place. I rap about what I live, what I know, and that’s how the magic is created.”

The project drops tomorrow. I know I’m hype for it’s release (as you should be).

PICS: Dipset Vs. Fool’s Gold Basketball Game

The Jordan Brand basketball court in NYC became ground zero for a game between Cam’ron’s Dipset and A-Trak’s Fool’s Gold (both of whom are currently working on a project together, if you haven’t heard), and courtesy of Miss Info, Mikey Fresh and Jesse Vega, we get to see how it all went down (you can see plenty more pics here). Judging from some of the photos, Miss Info should have a dope recap video coming soon.

Lauryn Hill Hit With Another Tax Debt — For Almost 900K

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Damn, Miss Lauryn…you can read the document here. From Radar Online:

Nearly six months after Lauryn Hill finished serving prison time for tax evasion, the IRS is on her case again. RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that the former Fugees singer was recently slapped with yet another batch of liens from the IRS — to the tune of nearly $867,000!

According to tax documents filed on January 14 and obtained by Radar, the IRS has served Hill with seven separate liens for a grand total of $866,868.05.

The IRS claims that in 2005, Hill failed to pay $422,008.26. For 2006, she owes $19,838.75; 2007, $61,158.50; 2008, $58,405.71; 2009, $30370.91; 2010, $13,247.73; and 2011, $261,838.19.

Los Angeles Police Fire Officer Who Leaked Rihanna Assault Photo

LOS ANGELES (AP) –  A police officer who distributed an evidence photo depicting Rihanna’s injuries after she was attacked by Chris Brown was properly fired for her actions, a judge ruled Thursday.

Former Los Angeles police officer Rebecca Reyes took a picture of an evidence photo and the image ended up on celebrity website TMZ, although she denies that she sent it to the site.

Reyes snapped the photo to show to other officers and acquaintances, court filings state.

The image was one of several taken by police officers investigating Brown’s February 2009 attack on Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Fenty.

Superior Court Judge Luis A. Lavin issued a ruling agreeing with the decisions of a disciplinary panel and Police Chief Charlie Beck to fire Reyes in 2012. After reviewing the record, Lavin also concluded that evidence supports that Ryes “participated in the release of the photography showing Ms. Fenty’s injuries to TMZ.”

The judge said he agreed that Reyes should no longer be a police officer.

“At a minimum, the public is entitled to protection from unprofessional employees whose conduct places people at risk of injury and the government at risk of incurring liability,” Lavin’s wrote in his ruling.

Reyes’ attorney Ira Salzman accepted the ruling without argument during a brief hearing Thursday. He said after the hearing that he was disappointed by the ruling and reiterated that his client did not leak the image to TMZ. He disagreed with Lavin’s descriptions of his client as unprofessional, saying she “made a singular mistake.”

“Rebecca Reyes is an outstanding person and was an outstanding officer,” he said.

Reyes had been an officer for 10 years before she was fired. In the hours after the Rihanna attack, Reyes was assigned to a team planning to arrest Brown but was pulled off the assignment. She saw an evidence photo of Rihanna’s injuries at her precinct and snapped a photo to share with others, including a former girlfriend who records show called TMZ.

The ex-girlfriend, also a Los Angeles police officer, told investigators she called the celebrity news site only to verify details of the attack that Reyes shared with her.

Salzman said Reyes’ ex-girlfriend, Blanca Lopez, remains on the force and that the person who leaked the photo “has never been found and never will be.”

Reyes and Lopez were in the midst of a breakup when the photo was leaked and both were investigated for their actions. Search warrants found no evidence of payments to either woman by TMZ, or conclusive proof of who gave the site the image.

Brown is currently in a Los Angeles jail held without bail after he was arrested March 14 for failing to remain in rehab as ordered by a judge. The rehab stay was part of his sentence for the Rihanna attack and his guilty plea on a felony assault charge.

Rihanna’s Ex-Accountant Fires Back In Legal Battle

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Above, fashion connoisseurs might enjoy recent pictures of Rih Rih in her latest notable (see-through) outfit From TMZ:

The gloves are off in the fight between Rihanna and her ex-accountant — the money man is now firing back in their legal battle over $9 million the singer claims she lost on his watch … calling her a financially impaired moron.

Accountant Peter Gounis filed the response to Rihanna’s lawsuit, insisting he was hired to record and manage her financial accounts — NOT give her rudimentary spending advice.

Gounis claims Rihanna blew through millions of her own money by going on endless shopping sprees — buying roomfuls of designer shoes, clothes, and jewelry — and throwing extravagant parties for herself. He also claims she bailed on an expensive tour to shoot “Battleship,” which turned out to be a massive failure.

And despite Rihanna’s accusations, Gounis insists he never directed Rihanna to buy a dilapidated house.

But even ignoring all that, Gounis says, “Was it really necessary to tell her that if you spend money for things you will end up with the things, and not the money?”

Gounis wants Rihanna’s lawsuit thrown out.

SURPRISE: Chris Brown Reportedly Doesn’t Like Jail

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From TMZ:

Chris Brown says he’s finally been scared straight — because he learned pretty quickly … jail sucks.

You’d think the photos of Rihanna’s battered face would have left an impression … on him. But apparently it took a few days in solitary to shake Chris to the core.

One source — who recently spoke with Brown on the phone — tells us, Chris says he feels like “a caged animal,” calling it “the worst experience of my life.”

We’re told Chris has been spending his time behind bars working out and writing music. He’s telling people on the phone, “I’ll never f*** up again.”

Not particularly convincing.

Lucky for Chris … he’s rich enough to buy his way out of jail — as we reported, he’s negotiating to pay off his alleged assault victim in D.C. so the case goes away and the judge in the Rihanna case lets him loose … to roam freely again.

Big Boi Signs New Management Deal, Announces New EP

big-boi

Spotted on Billboard:

Big Boi, the rap artist best known as half of hip-hop duo Outkast, has signed a management deal with Jordan Feldstein’s Career Artist Management, whose clients include Maroon 5 and Robin Thicke.

The news comes as Big Boi (born Antwan André Patton) is reuniting for the first time since 2007 with his Outkast partner Andre 3000. The duo are planning a 40-date festival run marking the 20th anniversary of their 1994 album debut “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.”

Big Boi, a six-time Grammy winner, songwriter, record producer and actor, is slated to release a new solo EP timed to Outkast’s Coachella appearance in April.

Feldstein is the founder and CEO of Career Artist Management and has managed Maroon 5 since their formation over ten years ago, helping guide the group to three Grammy Awards and sales of over 10 million albums worldwide.

“Jordan is a go-getter, mover and shaker, and my kind of guy,” Big Boi said in a statement. “I love his energy. We have a lot of new material and content coming this year, and can’t wait to get things started.”

“I’m proud to have a hip-hop icon like Big Boi join our management roster,” Feldstein commented. “We are all ready and excited to get started and continue to expand Big Boi’s overall brand as an artist.”

You can read more here.

‘The Boondocks’ Returns To Adult Swim…Without Creator Aaron McGruder

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From the L.A. Times:

“The Boondocks,” the edgy animated series based on Aaron McGruder’s comic strip about 10-year-old black militant Huey Freeman and his gangsta-wanna-be younger brother Riley living in the suburbs with their grandfather, is returning April 21 for a fourth and final season on Adult Swim.

However, there’s a catch. McGruder, who created the series and was its key creative force, is not along for the ride.

A press release from Sony Pictures Television, which produces the series, noted that the new season “was produced without the involvement of Aaron McGruder, when a mutually agreeable production schedule could not be determined.”

Representatives for McGruder could not be reached for comment.

VIDEO/PICS: Lebron James Gets His Own Sprite Flavor

Not really important to anything, but, well…I like Sprite, so it interested me. You can check out some pics above, as well as promo clips below of the new partnership/flavor…

It’s time to show the world Sprite® 6Mix™ by LeBron James, a new, limited edition Sprite flavor that will change the game, just like LeBron himself.

Sprite and LeBron teamed up to design the unique flavor of Sprite 6Mix to reflect both LeBron’s style and the crisp refreshment of Sprite. It was co-developed with LeBron and is inspired by his favorite way to mix Sprite. Sprite 6Mix features the lemon-lime Sprite taste you already know with a twist of cherry and orange flavors.

Two two sides actually spoke on the partnership as well:

“LeBron James is the perfect partner to bring our fans new product innovation,” said Kimberly Paige, Associate Vice President, Sprite Brands, Coca-Cola North America. “We’ve enjoyed an amazing relationship with LeBron since he entered the NBA in 2003, and we’re proud to have him contribute to Sprite in a meaningful way that we know will excite Sprite lovers and his fans.”

“Growing up drinking Sprite, I never imagined I would have my own flavor someday,” James added. “I had a great time working with the Sprite team to turn my favorite flavors into a pretty cool variation of one of my favorite brands. I’m proud of what we created and I’m excited for my fans to try it.”

Pharrell Is Bringing His Brand Of ‘Happy’ Of Saturday Night Live

The ever-talented Pharrell Williams will be performing on Saturday Night Live next month, on an episode that will be hosted by singer/actress Anna Kendrick. Maybe we’ll see the producer on some skits as well…can’t friggin wait.

Sarah Michelle Gellar Disses Kim & Kanye’s Vogue Cover

Like many others, Sarah Michelle Gellar has taken to her Twitter (above) to diss Kanye West & Kim Kardashian’s Vogue cover. Spotted on Perez Hilton:

“Many Vogue subscribers have claimed that if Anna Wintour ever put Kim on the cover of American Vogue, they’d unsubscribe to the mag.”