Alicia Keys stopped by The TODAY Show Wednesday to promote her new single and subsequent album and chatty hostess Kathie Lee and Hoda quickly turned to Lil Mama’s WTF stage crashing at Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards.
Patrick Swayze lost his battle pancreatic cancer on Monday, and in addition to an arsenal of film classics, the handsome actor will also be remembered for his … contributions to hip-hop? You heard right, because of his rhymable surname and starring role as ghost Sam Wheat in the 1990 blockbuster Ghost led a number of rappers — including The Notorious B.I.G. and Method Man — adopting his name as new lexicon.
Freddy O snagged a few shots of Lil Wayne’s ex-wife, Toya Carter, in the company of R&B diva Nivea — who is expecting the rapper’s third or fourth child (depending on whether she or Lauren London deliver first).
The girls all smiles at the Power Generation Conference in Atlanta over the weekend. In a recent interview with Sister 2 Sister, Toya revealed that Nivea is the only one of Wayne’s cumrags that she will allow in the presence of the couple’s 9-year-old daughter.
Rising Harlem rapper Charly Wingate, better known as “Max B,” was sentenced to 75 years in prison on Thursday for masterminding a deadly robbery at a Fort Lee hotel four years ago, NorthJersey.com reports. His stepbrother, Kelvin Leedam, received a life term plus 35 years for his part in the botched scheme.
The former Diplomat associate — who co-wrote Jim Jones’ 2006 hit “Ballin’” was convicted of felony murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and several other offenses in a June trial in which witnesses testified that he planned the September 2006 robbery at the Holiday Inn on Route 4.
Wingate’s ex-girlfriend, former stripper Gina Conway, took a plea deal and testified that Wingate and his stepbrother plotted to rob Allan Plowden and David Taylor, two drug dealers she met while shopping Harlem. Even with her testimony, she will still serve 18 years for her role in the crime.
Prosecutors say Wingate and Leerdam — the alleged triggerman — went to the victims’ hotel room and demanded money before Leerdam shot and killed Taylor.
It’s hard out here for a former rap star. Hip-hop is in serious need of a retirement plan. Christopher “Kid” Reid, of the hip-hop duo Kid N’ Play, wants to sell you a suit. These days Kid — which rose to fame with a serious of jovial radio hits, a Saturday Morning cartoon, and the House Party film franchise — in the late ’80s and early ’90s — is getting paid to hock SW Suits – buy one, get one free!
Have you heard about the alleged split between rapper Joe Budden and his built GF Tahiry? Here’s supposed footage of the fiery Latina dumping the “Pump It Up” star –which Budden uploaded to YouTube over the weekend — only to delete two mins later.
Laura Winslow is getting married — and it isn’t to Steve Urkel!
Kellie Shanygne Williams, who appeared on the classic ABC sitcom Family Matters between 1989-1997, has announced her wedding to self-employed businessman Hannibal Jackson (Yep, that’s really his name.) on her website this week.
The couple is scheduled to wed in Maryland sometime next month. Congratulations, Laura!
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has blasted reports claiming he’s traded in Ivory armpiece Julie Henderson for Australian actress/model Sophie Monk, after photos of the two out on the town made the rounds on the Interwebs this week.
“Sophie Monk is one of the most famous people in Australia as well as a renown pop singer around the world. For her, coming to America is having the paparazzi stand in front of her house 24/7, but no one in the streets knows who she is,” Russell blogged on GlobalGrind.com on Wednesday. “I was with her yesterday and I felt like I was hanging out with Britney Spears! (Sorry to disappoint you guys but I’M NOT DATING HER…) Sophie now joins the Global Grind family and tommorow is her first entry.”-Russell
On Thursday, August 6, Liza Rios, the widow of Big Pun, called into New York’s Hot 97 Morning Show with Cipha Sounds, Peter Rosenberg, and K. Foxx to respond to Fat Joe’s interview just moments before, accusing her of spending her late husband’s royalities “unwisely.”
Earlier this week, Liza — who is promoting the release of a new Big Pun documentary, The Legacy — revealed that she and her three children with Pun are currently living in a New York City shelter for the homeles.
