Ace is 21 from New Jersey, he is a rapper
Nas, Nia Long & More Celebrate Q-Tip In NYC October 28, 2008
Stars came out to celebrate the release of Q-Tip’s The Renaissance at the Bowery Hotel in New York City last night (10/28).
Nas, actress Nia Long, Talib Kweli, model Tyson Beckford, Consequence, A Tribe Called Quest producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Farnsworth Bentley, former Juice Crew standout Craig G, 88 Keys, Universal’s executive VP Sylvia Rhone and December XXL Cover Boy Kid Cudi, were among the celeb in attendance.
The evening turned into a roast of sorts as some of the aforementioned guests took turns praising and poking fun at Q-Tip onstage. The former Tribe frontman then took the stage to perform verses from classics like “Check The Rhyme,” “Scenario,” “Award Tour” and “Electric Relaxation.”
Tip’s been a mainstay on stages as of late. As previously reported, the Abstract taped an episode of VH1’s Soulstage last week. The Renaissance, featuring guest appearances from D’Angelo, Raphael Saadiq and production from J Dilla, is scheduled to hit stores November 4th.
HUDSON’S NEPHEW CONFIRMED DEAD October 28, 2008
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Chicago police have confirmed that the body of a young boy found Monday morning in an SUV was the missing nephew of Jennifer Hudson, police Supt. Jody Weis said Monday afternoon.
Authorities found 7-year-old Julian King inside of a white Chevrolet Suburban on Chicago’s West Side Monday morning. His body was on the floor in front of the SUV’s middle row of seats, covered up with heavy plastic and other items to conceal the body, a police source told NBC Chicago. The boy appeared to have been shot in the back of the head, the source said. An autopsy has been scheduled for today.
King had been missing since Friday, when a cousin who lived nearby found the slain bodies of Hudson’s 57-year-old mother Darnell Donerson, and 29-year-old brother Jason Hudson in the home they shared. Their deaths were ruled homicides. The Tribune reports that bullet casings were found in the boy’s room on Friday.
The Chicago Police Department issued the following statement before noon Monday: “At approximately 7:06 A.M. a 1994 White Chevrolet Suburban bearing Illinois license plate X584859 and identified in the Amber Alert was located at 1313 S. Kolin. A body was discovered inside the Suburban, in the rear seat of the vehicle.”
Police are reviewing surveillance tapes in the neighborhood where the SUV was found.
With the exception of having to identify all three bodies at the Medical Examiner’s office, Jennifer Hudson has remained in seclusion in Chicago. According to the AP, all public events that she had scheduled over the next week or so have been canceled, and a planned video shoot for her new single “If It Isn’t Love,” which was to take place starting Monday in Los Angeles, was also abandoned.
Her label released this statement of support: “On behalf of the RCA Music Group and Arista Records, we send our deepest sympathies and condolences to Jennifer and her family during this difficult time.”
Fox Studios, the company behind her latest film “The Secret Life of Bees,” issued the following statement on Monday: “Everyone at Fox Searchlight and Twentieth Century Fox wishes to extend our deepest condolences to Jennifer and her family. Our thoughts are with them in this time of profound sadness.”
Chicago police are calling the killings “domestic related” and have been questioning William Balfour, who is the estranged husband of Julia Hudson and is being held in state custody on a parole violation. Balfour is not the boy’s father and has not been charged in the slayings.
Balfour’s mother, Michele Balfour, has said Hudson’s mother kicked Balfour out of the family home last winter. She denied her son had anything to do with the killings.
ATF FOILS OBAMA ASSASINATION PLOT October 28, 2008
ATF agents said Monday that they have broken up a plot by two neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 88 black people.
In court records unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn., agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives said the duo planned to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school in a murder spree that was to begin in Tennessee, reports the Associated Press.
The skinheads did not reveal the name of the high school, but said they wanted to kill 88 African-Americans, including 14 by beheading. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community, referring to a 14-word phrase attributed to an imprisoned white supremacist: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children” and to the eighth letter of the alphabet, H. Two “8″s or “H”s stand for “Heil Hitler.”
The men also sought to go on a national killing spree after the Tennessee murders, leading up to an assassination of Obama as their final deed, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.
“They didn’t believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying,” Cavanaugh said.
The men, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of Helena-West Helena, Ark., are charged with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms from a federally licensed gun dealer, and threatening a candidate for president. They are being held without bond.
Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested Oct. 22 by the Crockett County, Tenn., Sheriff’s Office. Authorities alleged the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.
The court records say Cowart and Schlesselman also bought nylon rope and ski masks to use in a robbery or home invasion to fund their spree, during which they allegedly planned to go from state to state and kill people.
For the Obama plot, legal documents show Cowart and Schlesselman “planned to drive their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows.”
“Both individuals stated they would dress in all white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt,” the court complaint states. “Both individuals further stated they knew they would and were willing to die during this attempt.”
The court documents say the two men met about a month ago on the Internet and found common ground in their shared “white power” and “skinhead” philosophy.
MOTOWN VETS BID FAREWELL TO LEVI STUBBS October 28, 2008
Hundreds of mourners gathered at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit Monday for the funeral of Four Tops front man Levi Stubbs, the Motown great who died in his sleep Oct. 17 at his Detroit home. He was 72.
“He will always be here,” said Smokey Robinson, one of several Motown artists in attendance, according to the Associated Press. “You’re going to turn on the radio and hear him tomorrow. He made his mark on the world. All of the world, you’ll be able to hear Levi Stubbs forever.”
Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., also on hand, told mourners: “He made us walk in his shoes, felt what he felt and loved what he loved. He not only sang the song, he was the song.”
The service included two resolutions read by members of the city council, including one that marked June 6 as Levi Stubbs Day. Martha Reeves, a Detroit city councilwoman and former lead singer of Martha and the Vandellas, called Stubbs “my Pavarotti.”
“He stayed in Detroit,” added Councilwoman JoAnn Watson. “He could have gone anywhere, but he stayed with his wife, stayed with his group, stayed with the Four Tops.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson called the Four Tops “a family story,” remarking on the group’s decades together under Stubbs’ leadership.
“You just do not find an Aretha Franklin,” Jackson said. “You don’t find a Marvin Gaye. You don’t find a Smokey Robinson. You don’t find a Levi Stubbs. They don’t come in bunches like grapes. They are rare pearls.”
Former Temptations singer Dennis Edwards called Stubbs “the greatest lead singer ever.”
EL DEBARGE ARRESTED AGAIN October 28, 2008
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El DeBarge, the former lead singer of his family group DeBarge, is back in jail without bail due to two outstanding warrants at the time of his arrest earlier this month for possession of a controlled substance.
According to TMZ.com, the singer, born Patrick Eldra DeBarge, was arrested last year on charges including vandalism, drugs and domestic violence. He’s due back in court today, the Web site reported.
El DeBarge is the fifth of eight brothers and sixth of ten DeBarge family members. He formed the singing group, DeBarge, in 1978 with his siblings Mark, Randy, James and Bunny.
T.I. FILM ON GUN VIOLENCE PREMIERES IN ATL October 28, 2008
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Peace activist Andrew Young is speaking out against gun violence through a new television documentary that follows rapper T.I. as he works to make amends for a federal firearms conviction.
The hour-long film “Walking With Guns,” part of a series called “Andrew Young Presents,” was presented by the former United Nations ambassador on Sunday in Atlanta.
It includes extensive footage of T.I. visiting a rehabilitation hospital in New York to meet patients paralyzed by gang violence, reports the Associated Press. The film also shows T.I. and Young telling teens how to avoid violence, and follows a former gang member who is now a social activist.
“Violence would still be around without guns,” T.I. said to over 400 attendees during a question-and-answer session after Sunday’s screening. “But there would be an increased value of life.”
Young, 76, started production on the film earlier this year, shortly after he began to mentor the 28-year-old Grammy winner. The rapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris, pleaded guilty to several charges last March and was sentenced to prison time, community service and supervised home detention. His community service includes warning young people about the pitfalls of guns, gangs and drugs.
“Some of my colleagues are disappointed with me taking this young man in,” Young said of T.I. “But sometimes us old folks have to shut up and listen to the young folks to understand where they are coming from.”
JOHN SINGLETON DITCHES ‘A-TEAM’ October 28, 2008
Director John Singleton is no longer attached to direct the feature film adaptation of the 80s TV series “The A-Team,” according to Variety.
The filmmaker reportedly balked at Fox’s attempt to delay the long-gestating project for another year to allow more time for script development. The project had already been delayed multiple times due to script issues.
The Web site ComingSoon.net claims Fox is really pushing back the film to make room for an “Alvin and the Chipmunks” sequel. In either case, “The A-Team” release date has been moved from June 12, 2009 to June 11, 2010.
Ice Cube and Tyrese were both under consideration to play the character of B.A. Baracas, portrayed in the television series by Mr. T.
NE-YO FLAUNTS OBAMA SIGN BEFORE MCCAIN October 28, 2008
Barack Obama supporter Ne-Yo says he was all too happy to be in the presence of Republican presidential nominee John McCain when both appeared last week on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”
“I had a big Barack Obama sign on the back of my jacket,” the singer-songwriter told the New York Daily News. “I’m sure he saw it, but I didn’t go over and introduce myself or anything. I have nothing to say to that guy.”
As previously reported, Ne-Yo is set to star in, executive produce and write the soundtrack for Fox Atomic’s romantic feature “Venice Beach.”
The film centers on an 18-year-old Manhattan Beach woman who, after her talented older sister dies in a car accident, represses her own singing talent until she meets a gifted musician-singer (Ne-Yo) from Venice Beach. A budding romance between the two turns into a quest for musical careers, which meets resistance from his friends and her family.
JILL MARIE JONES BOOKS COMEDY ROLE October 28, 2008
Jill Marie Jones, best known for her run as Toni Childs on the TV comedy “Girlfriends,” has been cast in writer-director Nancy Kissam’s dark comedy “Drool,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The film stars Laura Harring as an abused wife whose plan to escape with a friend, played by Jones, goes awry when she accidentally kills her husband (Oded Fehr), leading the pair to drive the body cross-country.
“Drool” was the winner of the 2006 Slamdance screenplay competition.
