Quick Takes

Rapper Tray Dee of Tha Eastsidaz has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading no contest to charges of shooting at an occupied vehicle.

Mark Frauenfelder links to Nokia news, including the possibility of users making and sharing ringtones and other mobile content. Yet another example of how currently outrageous ringtone pricing will be undermined.

The Jam Master Jay Foundation for Music, a new organization featuring DMC as spokesperson, will officially launch Feb. 25th with a star studded benefit in New York which will also celebrate the 35th anniversary of the "shell top" Adidas.

New York's Hot 97 radio station has fired Todd Lynn and Rick Del Gado over the tsunami song incident but Miss Jones gets to stick around, which seems rather odd.

The Goodie Mob are planning to reunite and put out a new album.

P. Diddy will produce and star in some kind of action comedy that will include "two token white guys."

Video director Bryan Barber is set to direct a film featuring Outkast and tentatively titled Speakerboxx.

Multiple hip hop artists including Ludacris, Talib Kweli and some of The Roots will join Spike Lee in commemorating Malcolm X and marketing a special DVD edition of Spike's film Malcolm X.

Spike Lee recently called for more black business people in the film industry, emphasizing the career possibilities. He also encouraged indie productions going straight to DVD while challenging the excessive behavior of some rappers.

Bringing Canada to 50 Cent

Universal brought a bunch of Canadians down to San Francisco to interview 50 Cent and I hung out with a couple of them last night. Since I didn't mention posting, I'll hold back on the names, though they didn't say anything controversial, at least about 50 Cent. In fact, they confirmed what I've been realizing from recent interviews, that 50 Cent is a smart, thoughtful man who may have played around with reporters' assumptions in interviews for his first album. I was also glad to hear that, unlike many other rappers they've interviewed, 50 Cent doesn't get worked up if you disagree with him, at least in that setting. He just gives his opinion of things. In fact, it sounds like some of the more "conscious" rappers can be a big disappointment. In any case, it was fun hanging out with these guys and learning more about how big stars handle themselves. On the business tip, my guess is that 50 Cent the businessman has the potential to be as influential as he's already been as an artist.