American Idol Winner Fantasia Believes

06-22-2004 18:06:16

Today, Idol winner Fantasia Barrino (now just Fantasia) released "I Believe," the song she performed after being announced as winner of the "American Idol" season finale in May. She begins working on her album and is scheduled to perform on the 48-city American Idols Live tour this summer, which kicks off July 14. Fantasia also has a new $500,000, 5,000-square-foot home that she hasn't even furnished yet, according to the Associated Press.

Cobb County Clink Video Shoot

06-22-2004 15:06:09

Looks like a Cobb County Jail security guard risked his job for some shine in T.I.’s latest video. The Fulton County sheriff is broadening his investigation into who allowed the incarcerated rapper to shoot a promotional video in a maximum-security wing of the jail. Six deputies face dismissal for allowing the southern emcee - whose real name is Clifford Harris - to make the video, which featured eight prisoners and a few guards. The 23-year-old is on lockdown in the Cobb County Jail for violating his probation on a drug conviction. Officials allowed him to leave the county last week to film the video as part of a work-release program.

Jay-Z Fries Some Phish

06-22-2004 14:06:22

Jay-Z had quite a "phish" fry on Friday. The Brooklyn-bred rapper took the stage with veteran rock band, Phish, during their final NY-area concert in Brooklyn’s Coney Island. After the retiring rockers played the second song of their second set, Jay-Z surprised the crowd with a rocked-out collab of "99 Problems" and "Big Pimpin." Continuing his crossover crusade, the emcee made his second unannounced showing the following night at K-Rock’s eighth annual Dysfunctional Family Picnic radio festival in Wantagh, New York. This time he rocked the same stage as The Strokes, The Darkness, Cypress Hill, Brand New, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Beastie Boys.

Lil' Flip And T.I. Got Beef

06-22-2004 18:06:13

It appears that major beef is stewing between two of the south's hottest young guns in rap music. On Saturday, at ATL's HOT 107.9 Birthday Bash, T.I. dissed Lil' Flip by not getting off the stage when it was time for him to perform. According to industry sources at allhiphop.com Lil' Flip had a few choice words for T.I.

This is what Lil' Flip had to say as quoted from publicity sources: "I hear T.I. is on stage with like 20 of his men supposedly ready to confront me when it was my turn to take the stage. First of all, I was late and it was supposed to be over. At that point the police and the venue people kept us off the stage, they were gonna' shut it down and leave. Dude is on stage mad, claiming he’s the King of the South, and that I said he wasn’t. Everybody knows the real king of the south is Scarface. All I gotta say is that I don’t even KNOW him. If we wanna talk who’s hotter, I’ve been all over the mix tape scene, now I’m all over the mainstream scene, off the strength of my own hustle. A lot of people have been coming at me, and I really don’t have the time to address all of them. Like they say; mo' money mo' problems. That’s all I gotta' say, I'ma keep doin’ me regardless, I got a new hit record out. I’ve been in so much beef in my life, I’m happy to be here and still be living. I don’t know if dude’s been through half of what I’ve been through. I’ve been living with some real demons in my life, and niggas that know my story know what’s up so I don’t need to do anything extra to draw more attention to myself. I mean, I hear he’s calling out my peoples Luda and DTP too so I guess it’s just part of the game for him, a publicity stunt to move some more units. I guess he’s just mad cause I f*ck with everybody else in ATL but him. Look at my album; I got Pastor Troy, Luda, Killer Mike and Baby D. ATL is like my second home. And I guess he’s mad ‘cause he did a verse for the "Game Over" remix and I didn’t use it. Bottom line, I’ve put in my time. If he wanna take it there, I mean he got a team, I got a team too, so its whatever. Otherwise, go find another way to sell records ‘cause I am selling records"

To learn more about this alleged beef, check the following sources:

T.I. Flips On Lil' Flip, SOHH.com

T.I. & Lil Flip Beef Over Who's King Of The South, nobodysmiling.com

T.I. Starts 'Filet Mignon' Beef With Lil' Flip At Birthday Bash, MTV News

Walkin' The Doggs

06-21-2004 12:06:20

Apparently, Snoop Dogg is smoking again. According to PRNewswire, Snoop has teamed up with Pony to create psychedelic style shoes that combines Snoop's west coast flavor with the classic Pony design. "I have more flavor than the other artists. Pony is old school and I'm an old soul." said Snoop Dogg. The Doggy line, which will be in stores around November, is to be called "The One and Only."

Notorious K.I.M

06-21-2004 12:06:27

It looks like Lil' Kim won't be sporting an ankle device as a fashion accessory this summer, a judge has turned down a request from the rapper to perform at the St. Kitts Music Festival this Saturday. US District Judge Gerard Lynch thinks if she's permitted to the Caribbean she'll be tempted to stay for good, which means she’d miss her November 15 court date. Lil' Kim is charged with one count of conspiracy, three counts of perjury, three counts of making false statements, and one count of obstruction. Meanwhile R. Kelly can go anywhere he wants.

Meth Sees Red

06-21-2004 12:06:58

Method Man is beefing with FOX over the direction of his new show Method & Red. "This is frustrating for me, and it's not turning out for me as expected," he tells The Los Angeles Times. "I'm trying to keep this show ghetto, and there's a way for it to be both ghetto and intelligent. But it's not going that way." Meanwhile, Redman was too busy 'meditating' to comment.

Dead Prez Fight The Power

06-18-2004 16:06:44

Dead Prez may actually collect massive amounts of Dead Prez's in the near future. A rapper and a DJ from the band are suing cops who arrested them during a photo shoot last September after they refused to show government ID. Group members are each demanding $50,000 in the suit filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court. Now if only their albums garnered this much attention?

Paris Gets Screwed – Again

06-18-2004 16:06:18

Paris Hilton, heiress to the billion-dollar Hilton Hotel fortune and star of the hit television show The Simple Life, is working on an album with Lil' Jon. Hilton, whose debut is appropriately titled Screwed, has already laced several tracks with Lil' Jon. While the release will mainly focus on Hilton's singing ability, the album may include a rapping Hilton – which is just wrong.

Usher's New Boo

06-18-2004 16:06:57

It seems that Usher hasn't finished making all of his Confessions. The Atlanta crooner is hooking up with Alicia Keys for his next single "My Boo," a song that paints the picture of Keys and Raymond in a former affair. According to MTV the plan is to release "My Boo" once "Confessions Part II" runs its course as a single. It has been revealed that the new version of the album should be coming out in August and will feature several songs from the U.K.