Celebrity New Year Bash

50 Cent, Jay-z, Kanye West, Diddy

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Jay-Z and Juan Perez sue David Ortiz Over 40/40

More NEWS...

According to ABC news, Jay-Z and his business partner sued Boston Red Sox baseball player David Ortiz on Thursday for naming a Dominican Republic nightclub after their chain of 40/40 Club sports bar lounges.

Jay-Z and Juan Perez own 40/40 Clubs in New York City, Atlantic City and Las Vegas and have plans to open further venues in Tokyo and Macau.

They have accused Ortiz of trading on the fame, value and goodwill of their name through his club Forty/Forty and its website, which they say has caused their business "marketplace confusion and damage," the lawsuit said.

"David Ortiz is fully aware of plaintiff's Manhattan 40/40 Club, since he had been a patron there on several occasions long before he opened his infringing Forty/Forty Club," said the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.

Ortiz had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.

Rihanna Gets Rushed To The Hospital After Performing

THISIS50.COM

Rihanna was taken to the hospital after a performance in Zurich, Switzerland Monday night.

After playing the sold out show, Rihanna got into a blacked-out Mercedes and was driven to the Hirslanden private clinic. She was escorted to the accident and emergency department by her entourage and left the clinic at just before 3 AM.

Nothing else is known about her hospital trip. The head of communication for the hospital confirmed that Rihanna had been admitted to the accident and emergency dept., but gave no details.

Rihanna played another sold out show in Lyon, France last night.
--------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE:

Rihanna is carrying on with her European tour after being briefly hospitalized Monday night (April 19).

According to People, the singer was taken to a private clinic after her concert in Zurich, Switzerland. “[She] had an injured rib and went to have it looked at to be sure it was nothing serious, and it wasn’t,” her rep tells the magazine.

Rihanna is already back on her feet and doing fine. “All is okay and the tour is going great,” she adds.

Her trek through Europe continued on Tuesday night with a stop in Lyon, France. She is expected to play in Marseille tonight, while the North American leg of her “Last Girl on Earth” tour kicks off in July.

R.I.P. Guru: Official Statement From DJ Premier On The Death Of Keith Elam (Guru)

THISIS50

IT WAS A SAD DAY FOR ME TO GET CONFIRMATION ON THE DEATH OF A MAN WHO I WILL CONTINUE TO CALL MY BROTHER, KEITH ELAM, BETTER KNOWN AS GURU OF THE LEGENDARY GANG STARR.
FROM 1988-2004, WE EXPERIENCED SO MUCH SUCCESS TOGETHER THAT WE WERE ABLE TO EXPAND OUR BUSINESSES INDEPENDENTLY AND GIVE EACH OTHER WHAT GURU CALLED “CREATIVE SPACE”, BEFORE PLANNING TO REUNITE FOR OUR 7TH LP WHEN THE TIME WAS RIGHT. TRAGICALLY, WE WILL NEVER REACH THAT DAY.

I’VE BEEN ASKED TO COMMENT ON A LETTER SPEAKING ILL OF ME WHICH WAS SUPPOSEDLY WRITTEN BY GURU IN HIS DYING DAYS. ALL I WILL SAY ABOUT IT IS THAT OUR TIME TOGETHER WAS BEAUTIFUL, WE BUILT A HIP HOP LEGACY TOGETHER, AND NO ONE CAN RE-WRITE HISTORY OR TAKE AWAY MY LOVE FOR HIM. ONE THING I WOULD NEVER DO IS PLAY AROUND WITH THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS LIFE.

I WILL CELEBRATE GURU’S LIFE… I WILL HONOR HIS MEMORY… I WILL GRIEVE WITH THE ELAM FAMILY OVER HIS UNTIMELY DEATH… I WILL REMEMBER THE GANG STARR FOUNDATION AND ALL OF THE ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF GANG STARR WHO CAME BEFORE ME – WE ALL KNOW EACH OTHER… MOSTLY, I WILL CHERISH EVERYTHING WE CREATED TOGETHER AS GANG STARR, FOREVER. I’M GONNA MISS HEARING HIS SIGNATURE MONOTONE VOICE WHEN HE WALKS IN THE ROOM, BUT THE SONGS WILL ALWAYS BRING IT BACK TO ME….HIS RHYME FLOWS WERE INSANE, AND I WILL NEVER REMOVE HIM FROM MY HEART AND SOUL…….REST IN PEACE TO THE MAN WHO FELT “SATISFACTION FROM THE STREET CROWD REACTION” … I LOVE YOU GOO…….DJ PREMIER

Video: Stat Quo & Devin The Dude Talk Weed

Devin the Dude knows weed from Stat Quo on Vimeo.

President Obama Tells Jay-Z He Loves Blueprint 3

Allhiphop reports:

Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 album has received its biggest endorsement via President Barack Obama. In a recent interview with BBC One, disclosed that the President loved the LP and was playing it during their recent phone conversation.

“Barack loves Hip-Hop, when I called him he was playing Blueprint in the gym,” he explained. “I've been invited to the White House a couple of times. Hopefully we'll keep him in for 8 years so I'll have time to get there."

Obama has been a self-admitted Hip-Hop fan for years, and first met Jay-Z in 2008 as part of his goal to help emcees use their art to spark critical thinking and bridge generational rifts.

Also, the then U.S. senator was hopeful to see Hip-Hop artists as a whole move away from the misogyny and materialistic slant that’s gripped the art form’s mainstream in recent years.

“I've met with Jay-Z, I've met with Kanye [West]. And I've talked to other artists about how potentially to bridge that gap. I think the potential for them to deliver a message of extraordinary power that gets people thinking [is great],"Obama told BET on the special What’s In It For Us? “There are times, even on the artists I've named, the artists that I love, that there is a message that's sometimes degrading to women, uses the N-word a little too frequently. But also something that I'm really concerned about is they're always talking about material things about how I can get something; more money, more cars.”

Jay-Z acknowledged the Hip-Hop nation’s potential political power, but rejected the notion that artists should tone down their messages. Instead, he insisted that artists have a responsibility to speak on the uncomfortable truths of society, and not relegate their art to propaganda.

"Sometimes there are hard truths in rap, they're not packaged with pretty ribbons. Sometimes the realities of the situations are harsh and they need to be told,” Jay reasoned to the BBC. “We're the poets of our generation! Those truths and those honesties need to be told and sometimes that will rub people the wrong way but that don't mean you don't tell them. I think when rap is done brilliantly it can inform you of a problem, things that are going on."

Even as the pro-Obama Hip-Hop songs slowed following the President’s January 2009 inauguration, Jay-Z has remained one of his strongest supporters.

The Brooklyn native spoke favorably of Obama throughout Blueprint 3, including the songs “What We Talkin’ About,” “On to the Next One,” and “Reminder.”

Today (February 19), President Obama will hold a town hall meeting at Nevada’s Henderson high school, followed by speaking engagements at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Judge Mathis Says Prisons Are Paying Inmated $1 A Day To Make Furniture/ Profiting Off Slave Like Work

Shout out to Judge Mathis for keeping it real for real. We need more men like you.

Jay-Z Speaks on We are the world

We Are The World 25 Official Video (Haiti Benefit)

Recorded on February 1st, 2010, in the same studio as the original 25 years earlier (Henson Recording Studios, formerly A&M Recording Studios) "We Are The World 25 For Haiti", in which Jones and Richie serve as executive producers and producers, was created in collaboration with executive producers Wyclef Jean, Randy Phillips and Peter Tortorici; producers Humberto Gattica and RedOne; and co-producers Rickey Minor, Mervyn Warren and Patti Austin to benefit the Haitian earthquake relief efforts and the rebuilding of Haiti.

Academy Award-winning writer-director Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby), whose own personal efforts as well as those of Artists for Peace and Justice have already saved countless lives in Haiti, filmed the private recording session to create the accompanying video and behind-the-scenes production, and serves as Film Director and as an Executive Producer with Jones, Richie, Jean, Phillips and Tortorici.

The 25th Anniversary recording features over 80 artists and performers. The recording of We Are The World 25 For Haiti embodied the same enthusiasm, sense of purpose and generosity as the original recording 25 years ago. Every one of the artists who participated, regardless of genre or generation, walked into the room with their hearts and souls completely open to coming together to help the people of Haiti.

Swizz Beatz Planning To Branch Out Into Films, Art, Clothing

FLFM-

Swizz Beatz has been around, making hits for years, but according to the producer, a lot of people don't know a whole lot about him and his body of work. But, he says its partly his fault, because he's been so against doing heavy press, and/or having a publicist. That's all gonna change though ... very soon.

In a recent interview with MTV, Swizzy said he plans on giving fans a more in-depth look into his resume, among other things. "What I'm doing this year, I'm doing a bio on Swizz Beatz. I'm doing a bio on Kasseem Dean," the producer told MTV. "Some people don't know 70 percent of the work I've done. They know the obvious stuff that I've done. I think that me being so anti-press, so anti-publicist, mentally, it kept me cool, but on the music level, it held me back. Simple things I see, like ... for people that think me and Bono hanging out was, like, weird, awkward, I know that's a lack of education of who I am. I've been working with rock and roll since way back when -- Limp Bizkit, all these different people from way back when." Swizzy also says he'll be launching a new website soon, which will help build his legal name (Kasseem Dean) into a name brand ... because he's planning to branch out into all sorts of other lanes outside of music -- including scoring movies, art, and even clothingThis year, I'm just graduating the whole Swizz Beatz brand. I'm going more Kasseem Dean, which is my government [name]," he explained. "Kasseem Dean is the guy that travels all around the world, that deals with art, that does all the philanthropic work, that's scoring movies, that's doing clothes with major designers. All those things fall under the Kasseem Dean category.

"Swizz Beatz is 'On to the Next One,' 'Transform Ya,' all the stuff you see in the video. From 2009 on backwards is Swizz Beatz. All my tracks, that could still be Swizz Beatz. Anytime it's something outside of beats, it's Kasseem Dean. It's important for me to graduate that brand," Swizz continued.

When Swizzy will be launching this new website, or what domain name it will be located at, was unknown at press time.