ProHipHop

November 03, 2011

Insane Clown Posse: Classified Gang?

Fans of the ‘90s hip-hop group, Insane Clown Posse – composed of two men known as Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope – have been officially classified as a gang.

“Open source reporting suggests that a small number of Juggaloes [ICP fans] are forming more organized subsets and engaging in more gang-like criminal activity, such as felony assaults, thefts, robberies, and drug sales social networking websites are a popular conveyance for Juggalo sub-culture to communicate and expand,” the FBI’s 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment report alleges. “Transient, criminal Juggalo groups pose a threat to communities due to the potential for violence, drug use/sales, and their general destructive and violent nature.”

Apparently ICP fans have been associated with a string of crimes including violence that has gone on long enough to be considered gang activity in some states. For example, last January some Juggaloes conducted a shooting, as well as assaulting a homeless man last year.

ICP-related clothing has been banned from some schools, according toTaleTela.com. Also, after a Juggalo named Jacob D Robida shot his girlfriend in 2006, ICP’s manager released a statement against such violence, reported The Guardian. He said: “Anyone that knows anything at all about Juggaloes knows that in no way, shape, or form would we ever approve of this type of bullshit behavior.”

For over two decades Juggaloes have donned face paint in support of the Detroit-born, horrorcore rap/rock group. Not only popular in the States, the group has an international fan base who reportedly recruits new members at an escalating rate via hip-hop related events and parties.

Last year’s ‘Gathering of the Juggaloes’ festival was hosted by Charlie Sheen with performances by a massive list of rappers including MC Hammer, Ice Cube, Busta Rhymes and DJ Quick. The festival kicks off in ICP’s home town every year, and is put on by the two band members. It has been ongoing since 2000 with an average turn-out of 20,000 fans.

Earlier this year, singer Jack White collaborated with ICP on their “Leck Mich Im Arse” single. And in lieu of the new FBI report, ICP’s Violent J said, “White told us that nobody got the kind of reaction he got from his friends in the industry when he told them he was going to do a song with us. His exact quote was, ‘We could’ve done a song with Megadeth and it wouldn’t be as talked-about as us working with you guys.’ That’s crazy awesome.” (NME.com)

Now considered “one of the most prolific examples of hip-hop being used as a cover for gang-related activities in its annual report on gang culture in the United States,” Juggaloes are using less violent methods to fight back, wrote TaleTela.com.

“In just a few days, more than 200 people have signed a petition asking the FBI to revise their decision. ‘Juggaloes are a family that have each other’s backs,’ explained a supporter based in Tennessee. ‘They’re people who would die for somebody they haven’t even met.’ ”(The Guardian)

- Zach Kay

Posted by yodee on November 03, 2011 in Artists, Controversy | Permalink

September 15, 2011

Gucci Mane to Spend Six Months Behind Bars

Rapper Gucci Mane will spend the next six months in Georgia prison after pleading guilty to two counts of battery, two counts of reckless conduct, and one count of disorderly conduct on Tuesday, September 14th. Mane was reported to have picked up a woman named Diana Graham at suburban Atlanta mall in January, invited her for breakfast and tried to offer her $150 to stop by a hotel with him. When the woman refused, Mane pushed her out of his Hummer while in motion where she suffered from soreness and pain.

The Judge ordered Mane to complete 12 weeks of anger management classes and to pay the victim $5,090 for her medical bills plus $3,000 for damages.

Previous legal issues involving Mane include the November 2010 incident where he was arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road, running a red light or stop sign, damage to government property, obstruction, no license, no proof of insurance and other traffic charges. Later on a judge in the Superior Court of Georgia’s Fulton County ordered the rapper to a psychiatric hospital.

Posted by yodee on September 15, 2011 in Controversy, Legal | Permalink

September 09, 2011

The Flash Mob And Machine Gun Kelly

Words by: M Dee Dubroff

Experimenting with social media can be like playing with matches. For Cleveland-born rapper, Machine Gun Kelly, activity on his Twitter account has led to his arrest for organizing a flash mob. The event took place in Strongsville, Ohio at the suburban Southpark Center Mall, which is located some 20 miles from Cleveland.

It is illegal in Cleveland to promote flash mobs using social media. For the hundreds of fans who attended the event on Saturday, August 20th, as did Machine Gun Kelly, this fact was of no significance. The rapper was arrested for the charge of disorderly conduct after he refused to get down from a food court table.

The 21-year-old rapper, whose real name is Richard C. Baker, said of his arrest posted defiantly on Facebook:

“If havin’ fun with my fans and bringing the rage back to my hometown means I have to be arrested…then keep pullin’ the cuffs out.”

This self-destructive move has not hurt his career one little bit. In fact, it has enhanced it, as Kelly has just signed a deal with Bad Boy Entertainment, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ company.

Bad boy he is, but fans love the energetic rapper whose namesake was the moniker of a fearsome gangster from the Prohibition Era.

Go figure.

Posted by yodee on September 09, 2011 in Artists, Artists on Marketing, Controversy, Creative Promos, Legal, Online Marketing | Permalink

August 19, 2011

Lupe Calls Obama Names

You can cross off Lupe Fiasco on the list of guys heading to the White House any time soon. It turns out that the artist who has experienced a great deal of success the last year is not a big fan of the President of the United States, Barack Obama.

Lupe has dubbed Barack Obama as the “biggest terrorist” in recent months and when asked about his comments again he was not backing down. He told Power 92’s Tone Capone that he still believed in and stood behind his remarks.

Lupe said (according to HipHopDx.com)
“Well first of all, let’s build it all up together. We from Chicago, one of the most corrupt cities when it comes to politics,” he said. “You just go around the city and see the political corruption and everything like that, our Barack Obama comes from that. I’m not putting that out there to say that he’s a corrupt dude or anything like that, but understand where we come from politically and what we see, so we keep it 100 when it comes to our political officials.”

This has not been received as a popular comment among the hip hop community or the main stream audience. While Lupe is more than entitled to his opinion, it seems that this opinion has little merit. Certainly what seems the most strange is that he is using where Obama came from as a way to draw conclusions about his ethics and his character. It’s that kind of stereotyping that has plagued the world for years and has often ruined the reputations of many.

The fact that he referred to Obama says a lot about how Lupe feels, but it’s true that he doesn’t seem to be standing down from his words. It’s likely more thoughts of this nature will get him in trouble in the long run.

Posted by yodee on August 19, 2011 in Controversy | Permalink

July 21, 2011

Rapper Foxy Brown Beats Violation Charges

Rapper Foxy Brown was able to remain free after charges of violating an order of protection were dropped.

On July 21, 2010, Brown was arrested after she had an altercation with her neighbor, Arlene Raymond. According to sources, Brown was allegedly playing her music outside of her home too loud for Raymond. When Raymond complained about the music, Brown supposedly came up to Raymond’s residence, shouted expletives and exposed her rear end.

This is not the first time Brown and Raymond had an altercation. In 2007, Brown was charged and convicted of assaulting Raymond using a cell phone.

Brown’s trial was set to start on July 12, 2011. But the judge dismissed the charges before the trial started because Raymond refused to testify at the trial against Brown. If Brown would have been convicted of violating the order of protection, she could have faced up to a year in jail. She had her share of legal trouble over the past years and had served time in jail before for violating her probation. She also lost her hearing for over a year until she had surgery to correct her medical problem.

Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, started off her rap career at the age of 15 making guests appearance on other R&B and hip hop artists songs such as Toni Braxton and Jay-Z. Due to her talented rapping skills, she ended up signing on with Def Jam Records. She released over four albums in the last 15 years and her most popular album “Chyna Doll” went platinum after selling 1 million copies.

At this time, Brown is currently working on finishing up her latest album “Black Roses.” According to Brown, the album is scheduled to be released in the fall.

Posted by yodee on July 21, 2011 in Controversy | Permalink

July 21, 2011

Late Rapper Pimp C’s Widow Speaks Out About Being Sued Over His Recordings

The widow of late rapper Pimp C, Chinara Butler, is being sued by Rap-A-Lot Records about some of his unreleased recordings. According the lawsuit, Rap-A-Lot Records representatives have stated that Butler is withholding 10 master recordings of Pimp C’s music from the label. The lawsuit also stated that the label owns these master recordings due to their contract agreement with Pimp C.

Butler has stated that she is displeased with the music selection for Pimp C’s upcoming album “Still Pimpin.” She feels like the label is trying to do something new with her late husband’s music that he did not do. She also stated that she has not received any compensation for her work on the album as the executive producer.

Before the lawsuit was filed, Butler delivered a letter to the label ordering them to stop using her husband’s name and music for this upcoming album. Butler has also stated that there has been no communication between her and Rap-A-Lot Records CEO James Price since the passing of Pimp C about three years ago.

Pimp C was found dead in his Hollywood, California hotel room in December of 2007. His cause of death was ruled an accidental death due to a drug overdose of Promethazine/Codeine syrup and sleep apnea.

Before his death, Pimp C was a member of the rap group Underground Kingz (UGK) that was based out of Texas. The group released nine albums and earned several music awards. They also were featured on several top hip-hop singles such as “Big Pimpin” by rapper Jay-Z.

The last UGK album “UGK 4 Life” was released in March of 2009 as a tribute to Pimp C’s death. The album debuted sixth on the Billboard 200 music chart.

Posted by yodee on July 21, 2011 in Controversy, Legal | Permalink

July 05, 2011

Rapper Tyga Steals “Snapbacks Back” From a 12-Year Old Artist

On June 10th, Durvel Wilson Sr. of Native Son Entertainment went about his usual promotional methods of posting new music from his artist to various sites and his friends on Facebook. His newest promotional efforts were towards his son Durvel Wilson Jr. aka “Young Vishis” with his new promotional single “Snapbacks Back The Tupac Remix”.

One of the Facebook pages he posted the song on was Young Money President “Mack Maine”. About eighteen days after, to his surprise the song was STRAIGHT STOLEN and recorded by Young Money artist Tyga with a feature from Chris Brown, not Young Vishis.

The chorus was changed a little but the concept of doing it about Snapbacks hats is what they took from the 12 Yr Old artist. We are aware it is a remix to “Tupacs Back” by Meek Millz and Rick Ross, however the reason Tyga and Chris Brown are getting props for the song was because the concept was different (referring to snapback hats).

In speaking with Durvel Wilson Sr. he said, “That’s straight wrong, they stealing songs from a 12-year old who takes the time to write his own material and promote himself. Young Vishis stated, “They could have at least asked me to get on my own song with them” but to jack my whole song that was wrong”.

Durvel Sr. added, “To make matters worst when we went back to Mack Maine Facebook page everything else that was posted that day was still there, but our post with the song. What he didn’t remember though is that my page will still say that I added a link to his page that day. So it was a dumb move removing it.”

Posted by yodee on July 05, 2011 in Artists, Controversy | Permalink

June 14, 2011

Tracy Morgan Apologies For Hateful Comments

Recently, Tracy Morgan has been getting a lot of flack for a performance in Nashville, Tennesee of all places, where the veteran comedian spoke on his son and homosexuality, saying if his son ever came home sounding effeminate he’d pull out a knife and stab him. Really, Tracy? Fortunately, Morgan came to his senses and met with LGBT teens this week. He will also be apologizing to the same Nashville crowd, and has stated:

“I know how bad bullying can hurt. I was bullied when I was a kid. I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it. I never want to use my comedy to hurt anyone. My family knew what it was like to feel different. My brother was disabled and I lost my father to AIDS in 1987. My dad wasn’t gay but I also learned about homophobia then because of how people treated people who were sick with that. Parents should support and love their kids no matter what. Gay people deserve the same right to be happy in this country as everyone else. Our laws should support that. I hope that my fans gay, straight, whatever forgive and I hope my family forgives me for this. I’m not a hateful person and don’t condone any kind of violence against others.”

GLAAD CEO Jarrett Barrios had this to share with Bossip:

Russell Simmons reached out over the weekend to see if we would have a call [with Tracy Morgan]. From the beginning we asked for a public apology and we asked for him to go beyond that apology. We asked him to meet with the parents of LGBT children who have been murdered, parents who lost their children to violence and homeless LGBT youth who had been kicked out by their own families, so he could understand the people who were harmed by his comments in Tennessee.

Kids are harmed by words everyday. LGBT kids who are harassed are 8.5 times more likely to commit suicide and 9 out of 10 LGBT kids in high school experience harassment every year. Those statistics are alarming and by having that conversation [with Morgan] we hope it will help him and others understand that words have great power. Words can make it worse or better and moving forward we hope he will agree and be supportive of LGBT youth. His words now can help and with greater understanding he can become an ally and make a difference for these people.



Posted by Andre on June 14, 2011 in Controversy, Hip Hop Business News | Permalink

June 02, 2011

Will Smith, Move That Trailer!

‘Here comes the Men In Black, gotta move that trailer..’

Ok, that’s not how the song goes, but we at ProHipHop couldn’t help but dig into this story a little further. Apparently Will Smith’s 53-foot trailer just won’t quit making noise in the middle of SoHo- According to New York Post, The specially designed ride, nicknamed “The Heat,” includes a ‘lounge, a movie room with a 100-inch screen, marble floors throughout, offices for his assistants and writing staff, a large bedroom and all-granite bathroom. It measures about 53 feet long, has 22 wheels and weighs in at around 30 tons.’ Sound like overkill, or just perfect for someone who has an apartment within the same proximity? If you accept this mission, we at Pro Hip Hop’re gonna need you to consider the poorer folks in New York Agent Smith!

“Its ridiculous! I’ve lived here 26 years, and I’ve never seen anything this size,” wailed Myrna Reisman, 62, who lives next to where the trailer was parked yesterday at Broome and Greene streets.

“This thing is like a duplex,” said Reisman. “How would Will Smith feel if I parked that thing out in front of his house? People forget this is a residential neighborhood, not a film lot — that thing is taking up half our gasoline reserve.”

Some fun features about this behemoth-

  • The trailer can double its height in only 30 seconds, and sells for under $2 million.
  • Inside is a full service kitchen with arched windows and Italian cherrywood cabinetry.
  • A makeup/wardrobe section
  • has a 100 inch roll down
  • Upstairs has a lounge with a bar, enough space for a 30-person meeting, and mobile offices for Smith’s assistant and personal writing staff.

A rep for the studio producing the film, Sony Pictures Entertainment, said, “We know we are guests in the neighborhoods where we film, and are always respectful of the area residents and businesses.”

Any one in New York want to weigh in on this?

 

Posted by Andre on June 02, 2011 in Bad Looks, Controversy, Uncategorized | Permalink

May 09, 2011

Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj Continue Their Feud

For those of you who thought the feud between Nicki Minaj and Lil’ Kim was over, you had better think again. The two queens of hip hop are at it again, and this time it’s Lil Kim is firing the shots.

On her Twitter page, the multi-platinum artist and protégé of Biggie Smalls fired shot after shot on her Twitter page.

Lil Kim tweeted:

I would never name her ‘Shitty Garbaj’!!! My dog is way prettier than that b****!!!” she wrote. “What type of coward lame a** b**** tweets some shit and then deletes it. REAL b****** stand by what they say BOZO…”

The feud began a few months ago when Nicki Minaj appeared on a remix of Britney Spears song called “Til The World Ends.” There she took veiled shots at Lil Kim and what she has called a dead career.

Lil Kim continued her Twitter rampage but the words are too foul to reprint. It’s clear that there is no love lost between these two ladies. It’s not a common occurrence to see two female hip hop artist beefing. Clearly the idea of a public beef is often considered a male thing.

Nicki Minaj has been the subject of much criticism since she arrived on the scene. While she has managed to nab an assortment of well known artists to work with she has often come up short in attempting to keep up with their skill level.

“Roman’s Revenge,” which she did with Eminem, was considered a particular failure on her part. The difference between the command that both showed was obvious and made Nicki Minaj look incredibly weak.

This feud has existed for a while so it’s unlikely that they will resolve anything anytime soon. Things could get very interesting between these two outspoken ladies of hip-hop.

Posted by yodee on May 09, 2011 in About, Controversy | Permalink