Tragic: Washington Redskins’ Sean Taylor Passes Away

CNN has the story:

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor has died a day after he was shot and wounded in his Miami home, Taylor’s former attorney Richard Sharpstein said Tuesday.

Sharpstein told CNN that the 24-year-old football player was shot Monday during a home invasion and died later at a hospital.

“The blood loss was too much. He didn’t make it,” Sharpstein told CNN. “He did supposedly squeeze a nurse’s hand. I wasn’t there,” said Sharpstein. “But obviously that was either some kind of response or muscle reaction and not any sign for the better.”

He never regained consciousness after the shooting, Sharpstein said. “It’s a senseless, tragic death that was so unnecessary, another example of the incessant violence in — not only our community — but the country now.” Watch Sharpstein describe Taylor’s death »

At 1:45 a.m. Monday, a woman identified as Taylor’s girlfriend called 911 and said someone had been shot. Taylor was airlifted to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Sharpstein said the NFL safety’s girlfriend — who said she was hiding under bedcovers during the attack — has described the shooting to police.

“Sean was awakened with his girlfriend and 18-month old baby,” Sharpstein said. There were “noises, thumps in the living room.” Taylor “got up and locked the bedroom door. Before he could do anything, the door was kicked in and two shots were fired — one hit him in the leg, one went into the wall.”

Taylor “was on the floor, nonresponsive, bleeding out and chest heaving, eyes rolled back and he was pretty much gone from that point on,” Sharpstein said.

Taylor’s girlfriend “tried to call 911 and it’s unclear whether the phone lines were cut or the phone was broken or off or unplugged or turned off,” said Sharpstein. “She had to use her cell phone to eventually call 911.”

“Whether this was a purposeful action in taking Sean’s life or in shooting him or whether it was a burglary gone awry, the police are still investigating those circumstances,” Sharpstein said.

Lt. Nancy Perez with the Miami Dade Police Department said investigators were looking for an “unknown suspect.”

Taylor’s home also was reported broken into eight days earlier on November 18, according to Miami-Dade police.

Someone forced open a window and left a kitchen knife on a bed, according to the police report. Several drawers and a bedroom safe had been searched during the break-in, the report said. No one knows whether the first invasion is related to Monday’s attack, Sharpstein said.”

I’m not really up on football too much, but when I read about this I couldn’t help but be horrified by this senseless tragedy. To go after a man in his home with his girlfriend and young child is just repugnant. It’s so sad to hear about the untimely death of a promising young man. My deepest condolences go out to his family and I hope his killer is brought to justice.

Posted by Reecie

Kanye West Makes a Triumphant and Heart Wrenching Return to the Stage in Paris

This weekend, Kanye West returned to the public eye with his concert in Paris, France for his Graduation tour. It’s no surprise that Kanye would use the stage as an outlet for the overwhelming grief he must be feeling, considering that his mother was often by his side when he performed and wholeheartedly supported and believed in his music. The thing that is amazing about this concert is that Kanye isn’t putting on a tough guy facade…he is the same energetic and vulnerable artist he has always been. I don’t know how anyone can watch him soldier through his performances and not feel empathetic to his pain and a great deal of respect for what it must take to get on that stage after burying his mother just a few days earlier.

My respect and admiration for Kanye has been criticized on this site quite a bit, but it’s times like this that prove unequivocally that those feelings are well warranted. Although the footage captured from concert is very amateur, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to be able to sense the kind of energy in the air. I’m sure Kanye is gaining strength by the abundant love and support from his fans, and I hope that he continues to get the love and support he needs. Check out his performances.

Show Opening

Can’t Tell Me Nothing & I Wonder

Click here to watch Heard Em Say

Click here to watch Homecoming

Homecoming (Continued), Flashing Lights, Drunk & Hot Girls

From Virginia Tech to SuccessTech- Schools, Kids, & Guns

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I could be seriously mistaken but this tragedy didn’t get the kind of press that the shooting @ Virginia Tech received.  Nevertheless, it just seemed to me that this situation kind of came and then it went.  But what went down is seriously another alarming cause of alarm that something’s terribly going wrong with our young kids in school. Without trying to go into my usual reminisces about proverbial “hay-days” in school, I just feel that shyt like this didn’t pop off when I was younger.  You didn’t hear a lot of cases of young kids goin for gusto on a campus….I’m sure it happened and maybe I wasn’t paying attention but I’m just seeing more and more of these cases taking place as of recent, especially ever since the notorious Columbine massacre.

 So, for those who don’t have a clue as to what I’m really talking about, here’s the net-net of the story.  Let’s go to Cleveland, OH and enter the halls of a highschool by the name of SuccessTech Academy, an alternative high school in the public school district that stresses technology and entrepreneurship for about 240 students, most of them black, with a small number of white and Hispanic students. The school shooting that took place there on Oct. 10th resulted in the death of the shooter, Asa Coon, who took his own life, and the injuring of several students and teachers.  While it’s a fortunate situation that none of the shooter’s victims died during the assault, what’s more disturbing is that school officials and security were previously aware that Asa (sorry, i just get a sharp ping in my neck using his last name) had some serious issues.  Even close friends to him knew he wasn’t all together.   One of his people’s stated, “He said if he did shoot up the school he’d let me and some other dude he knew go and all that, but I didn’t think he actually meant that…….I thought he was just kidding around“

In 2006, Asa was put under psychological testing after he slapped his mother and was thus put in a shelter where he was made several suicidal attempts. A few days before the shooting, Asa was beat up by some students because of his “gothic” lifestyle, his atheist beliefs, and worshipping of Marilyn Manson.  After what had to be years of mental & social anguish, Asa finally responded back….He was said to be wearing all black with a Marilyn Manson t-shirt on and black finger nails during the shooting.  A few days before the shooting, he gave warnings to students and said, “I got something for ya’ll” but no one seemed to take him very seriously.  One student did and made it a point not to attend school the day of the shooting.

New school, new city, same story….Why/How are kids getting to the point where they feel a need to do this? It doesn’t make sense for fingers to be pointed because what’s done is done but who do you feel is responsible? Could this have been prevented? Is the school system unable/incapable of detecting these signs before it’s too late? What’re your thoughts?

~Thesis

Nas is dat “Nigga?”

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Our favorite Godson pka (previously known as) Esco has caught some backlash as of recent due to his decision to name his upcoming album “Nigger” aka “The N Word.” His recent interview with MTV had Nas defending the title stating that it shouldn’t be taken so seriously.  He is trying to reach the streets and not reach the Civil rights generation that was affected by such an a caustic slur.  Nas seeks to take the negativity out of the word by placing it in such a light.  As comedian Jeff Foxworthy has clearly endeared the term “Redneck,” Nas is trying to take the sting out of it and put it back in the power of black people as he truly believes times have changed and audiences have clearly undergone transformation during that process.

Though Nas has clear intentions of flippin’ the script on the word, individuals like Jesse Jackson are throwing him under the bus saying that though he has a right to call his album “Nigger” he shouldn’t be glorifying it and that he should use his voice for uplifting and not degrading. In response to Jackson’s comments, Nas says, “And to my older people who don’t know who Nas is and who don’t know what a street disciple is, stay outta this (expletive) conversation. We’ll talk to you when we’re ready. Right now, we’re on a whole new movement. We’re taking power from that word“  Though Nas respects the old leaders, he feels that he is a new leader in this movement and wants to reach his audience in a way that they will listen to his message.

I think Nas’ approach and response to Jackson and other naysayers was right on! For individuals to automatically cast judgement on a title without confronting the artist or listening to the music first is not only unfair, but as Nas put it during his interview, “counter-revolutionary.” I think Nas did good by given respect to Jackson but tellin’ him the biz like a man.  Thas’ wassup.  I think Jackson & Co. really should take an L for this one.  I’m with Nasir!

What’re your thoughts on this situation? Is Nas taking the whole term of endearment thing a lil too far or is this whole “N word” story a lil trite?

~Thesis

Jena 6 Update: Mychal Bell Free on Bail!

 

Update 9/27/07

CNN has the story:

Mychal Bell, a black teenager accused of beating a white classmate and who was the last of the “Jena 6″ behind bars, was released from custody Thursday after a juvenile court judge set his bail at $45,000.

Bell’s release followed an announcement from LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, who said he would not appeal a higher court’s decision moving Bell’s case to juvenile court.

Bell’s attorney Lewis Scott said the teen was moved from jail to a juvenile facility earlier Thursday.

I’m very happy to hear that finally some sense of justice has been served. Mychal has sat in jail close to a year and now he is finally getting the taste of freedom. This is certainly proof that there is power in protest and activism. If we don’t stand for something, we will fall for anything. This time it was the Jena 6, the next time it could’ve been your husband, son, brother, nephew, cousin, neighbor…but hopefully with everything that has transpired it will make folks think twice about their actions…whether that means not putting their hands on someone to retaliate or not manipulating the law to serve racist motivations.

Keith Murray Robbed in South Africa

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On a recent trip to South Africa to work on some new tracks on his upcoming album, Keith Murray was stuck for his money, laptops, ipods, etc…. all of which contained, as it was put, ”the last 12 years of his work.” Murray, desparate to get it back, has put out a reward. That’s a shame indeed! Murray’s career has been at a stand-still for quite some time and regardless of whether his album was going to do well or not, it’s sad that he got robbed of his music….But damn, did he back-up any of it?

Hopefully cats just wanted the items and not sending his music all over the net or bootleggin it…

~Thesis

It’s Official: Kanye West Outsells 50 Cent by almost 300K albums!

Here is the story:

Kanye West has sold about 957,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures posted by the industry Web site Billboard.com on Tuesday night. It was his best first-week sales ever and topped the year’s previous first-week champ, Linkin Park, which sold 623,000 of “Minutes to Midnight” when it debuted in May. In comparison, 50 sold 691,000 copies of “Curtis.”

Despite his victory, West was hardly rubbing it in 50’s face. In fact, he said he was humbled by the win.

“It feels overwhelming,” West told The Associated Press, as he walked to Def Jam’s offices on Tuesday afternoon. “Everyone is coming up to me and telling me how proud they are of me.”

Though selling almost 700,000 copies in the first week was a sterling achievement, it was still a considerable letdown for 50 Cent. His last album, 2005’s “The Massacre,” sold 1.1 million in its first week. In fact, West’s “Graduation” the only other album to come close to those sales since.

Last month, 50 didn’t think of West as much of a competitor: “It’s great marketing on Def Jam’s part, by putting us out there at the same time and make like we can actually be compared on some level,” he told the AP. In another interview, he said he would retire if West outsold him.

50, who is planning a world tour for his album, was conciliatory in defeat. In a statement to the AP, which didn’t address whether he planned to make good on his threat to retire, he said: “I am very excited to have participated in one of the biggest album release weeks in the last two years. Collectively, we have sold hundreds of thousands of units in our debut week. This marks a great moment for hip hop music, one that will go down in history.”

Well I don’t think there is much more smack I can talk now that the official numbers are in, but in my best Diddy voice/harlem shake ***take that, take that, take that*** lol. Almost platinum in one week from Kanye…that’s major! He definitely has the album of the year and his fans came through and supported him by shelling out their ten bucks. All of the promoting, the tantrums, the concerts, the special appearances paid off…and now he gets to bask in the glory of victory. 50 on the other hand…He pulled in a solid 690K. If he hadn’t talked so much sh!t about how he was going to outsell Ye and how he has no competition, it would be quite an admirable effort. At any rate…it’s great for Hip Hop and even better that Kanye has shown that you don’t have to talk about killing people or calling women b!tches and hoes every other second to appeal to a broad audience. Kudos and Congratulations to Kanye both of them!

Now that the obvious has been confirmed…what does this mean for Hip Hop? Will more quality music get put in the spotlight? Will 50 Cent be gracious in defeat or come up with more excuses? Post your thoughts.

Posted by Reecie

OJ Simpson Robbery: The “Juice” In the Mix Again

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I’m sure we’re all aware of what’s going on with O.J these days.  For those that have been in suspended reality since Sunday, here’s a synopsis of the events that led up to his recent arrest is Las Vegas. On Thursday, Sept. 13th, OJ and some other “armed” individuals allegedly broke and entered into a hotel room at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino attempting to make off with sports memorabilia that O.J claimed was rightfully his but was being sold on consignment during an auction.  OJ was tipped by the auctioneer about his items being sold but OJ purpoted that those items were actually stolen and that he wanted them back. O.J & Co. made way to the casino and here’s where the story gets a lil shady.

According to a recording obtained from TMZ.com (these guys really are everywhere!) O.J was heard yelling all types of expletives and apparently upset that someone had jacked his personal property.  This was taken from the recording- “Don’t let nobody out of this room..Motherfucker, you think you can steal my shit and sell it?” Later recordings detail that a certain dude by the name of “Mike” was called out as being the individual who got O.J for his stuff and O.J was infuriated by it.  yada yada yada……So according to the auctioneer, there was no brute force, guns, or violence used when OJ came in the hotel room.  According to one of the “victims” during the barrage, OJ & Co’s entry into the hotel room was likened to that of a “home-invasion” where guns and other weapons were hailed during the dispute.

Simpson’s “no firearm used” story apparently hasn’t held up since police have attained eye witness accounts contradicting the latter. Also Simpson is believed to have not only ”stolen” his personal memorabilia (how does one steal their own possessions? lol) but also some other items as well like some Joe Montana cleats and what not. One of Simpson’s cohorts, Walter Alexander, who was also charged with robbery, gave up information that led police to issue warrants and retreive weapons that were allegedly used.  Alexander was recently released from jail (why do i think ole boi worked out a deal!)

OJ is currently being held at a county jail (in isolation) in Las Vegas with no bail as he is considered a high profile inmate.  Simpson is scheduled to be in court as early as tomorrow and if he is indicted of all of the charges (robbery, assault, burglary, and conspiracy) he could face well over 30 years in prison.

Is this Karma, a set-up, or hyper-sensitivity by the media?  Kato Kaelin, Denise Brown and a victim during the barrage are scheduled to be on Larry King.  Why the **** do we need to hear from Kato Kaelin….I forsee more demonization from the media on the likes of Simpson.  But did he bring this on himself? Many people close to him say he’s very arrogant and cocky.  I don’t know him personally but for him to just run up in the spot like that with heat shows he’s a bad mutha….shut yo mouth!

What do you all think?

~Thesis

Remembering 9/11

Today on HM we take pause to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That day is a day with will be forever etched in our brains as it changed the fabric of how we view our society and in many ways altered our way of life. We were all united in horror at the attacks, compassion for the victims, and in trying to grasp why this happened and what was in store for our futures. Over the past few years, the attacks on that day have become increasingly politicized…but I ask that on this site, we take a moment just to remember the victims and remember that sense of one spirit this country felt. I would also like to encourage everyone to just take a moment and be thankful for everything you have in your life…your happiness, health, family, significant other, friends, career, home, and so on.

Posted by Reecie

Foxy Brown Sentenced to a Year in Jail: Harsh Punishment or She Had it Coming?

 

Yahoo has the story:

NEW YORK - Foxy Brown was sentenced Friday to one year in jail for violating probation that stemmed from a fight with two manicurists in a New York City nail salon three years ago. “I’m not going to give you any more chances,” Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson told the 28-year-old rapper. “I hope you turn your life around and never again have to stand in a court of law.” 
 
Probation Department officials asked for the hearing after Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, was arrested Aug. 14 in Brooklyn on charges of assaulting Arlene Raymond, 25.