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September 29, 2000

Queen Pen Arrested

From Sonicnet.com Brooklyn, N.Y., rapper Queen Pen and 31-year-old Yolanda Roberts of Atlanta were arrested early Monday (Sept. 25) morning outside a New York nightclub after police broke up a fight where shots were reportedly fired, New York police Detective Carolyn Chew said. Queen Pen complained of internal injuries as a result of the scuffle and was taken to the hospital, but no one else was hurt and no gun was found, Chew said. The 28-year-old rapper, born Lynise Walters, who was arraigned on charges of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, will return to court Oct. 30, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office. ...

September 28, 2000

Lil Kim Still has beef with Shyne

From MTV.com. The much-hyped debut effort from Bad Boy rapper Shyne hit stores this week, but don't expect Lil' Kim to rush out and pick up a copy. The risqué rapper, who has nothing but love for her business associate and longtime friend Sean "Puffy" Combs, is not fond of the latest star to emerge from Puffy's Bad Boy Records, as she told MTV Radio. "We definitely have no dealings with Shyne," Kim said of the Junior M.A.F.I.A. clique's relationship with the up-and-coming rapper. Kim recalled that she looked out for him early on and gave him tips about the business, but now she feels "he's bad energy, he's negative energy, and he's just nothing I want to be a part of." She went on to say that she doesn't understand why Puffy deals with the artist. Puffy's reasons for taking Shyne under his wing may become clear when Shyne's sales figures start to trickle in next week. The rapper will promote the album with a video for "That's Gangsta," which he shot in Brooklyn last weekend. The arrival of Shyne's self-titled debut comes after months of headlines for the controversial rapper. Shyne's public introduction came late last year when cops grabbed him (as well as Bad Boy chief Combs) after a shooting at a New York nightclub. Shyne still faces charges of attempted murder in the case.

Phife Disses Q-Tip on album

This comes courtesy of Sonicnet.com. "When A Tribe Called Quest parted ways after 1998's The Love Movement, the acclaimed rap outfit's main members — Q-Tip, DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Phife Dawg — morphed into distinct personas as solo artists. Q-Tip surrounded himself with svelte, scantily clad dancers for his solo LP, Amplified. Muhammad joined Dawn Robinson of En Vogue and Raphael Saadiq of Tony Toni Toné in the modern-soul supergroup Lucy Pearl. "I'm sorry, but I'm doing me now." — rapper Phife Dawg on the Mutty Ranks persona he adopts on Ventilation: Da LP. Phife Dawg, born Malik Taylor, said he slips into his raw alter ego, Mutty Ranks, on Ventilation: Da LP, his solo album released Tuesday. ("Mutty" refers to a wayward hound, and "ranks" is a word from West Indian roots — his parents hail from Trinidad and Tobago — which means "MC," he said.) "I'm on my own," Phife Dawg said about his Mutty Ranks persona. "I don't have to be policed any more. I can just kick it the way that I want to kick it. Anybody offended? I'm sorry, but I'm doing me now." On Ventilation, Mutty Ranks fumes about Tribe's breakup and the fickle nature of the rap industry. That vibe is clear on tracks such as "Flawless" (RealAudio excerpt), where Phife Dawg uses his succinct rhyme flow to check materialist rappers and, apparently, Q-Tip's (born Jonathan Davis) new hairdo. "Go ahead play yourself with them ho-like hooks/ Sing ballads if it's all about the Maxwell look ... / Now tell me what you rhyming for?/ This s**t's all about flows/ F**k the fashion show." A publicist for the rapper confirmed that the song has been widely interpreted as a dis toward Phife Dawg's former bandmate.

September 26, 2000

New Eminem Video

This comes courtesy of MTV.com. "After scoring hits with his clips for "The Real Slim Shady" and "The Way I Am," rap's king of controversy, Eminem, is getting ready to step back in front of the cameras. Next week, Em will meet up with the two-man directing team of Dr. Dre and Phillip Atwell in Los Angeles to shoot a video for Em's tale of fan obsession, "Stan," [RealAudio] the next single from his "The Marshall Mathers LP." Spokespeople for Em said the clip will once again be a concept-based affair, and that two versions are being readied: a regular-length video and an extended version. The rapper's reps also said that trip-hop songbird Dido will turn up in the video. The singer's "Thank You" is sampled throughout "Stan," and Em's rep said that Dido may turn up as Stan's girlfriend in the clip."

September 26, 2000

Hip Hop Artists at Million Family March

"Mary J. Blige, Macy Gray, Erykah Badu, Kelly Price and Rev. Run from Run-D.M.C. are among the R&B and hip-hop artists set to perform in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 16 during the planned Million Family March, which will focus on the quality of life in the United States and push for voter registration, according to organizers. Co-chairing the entertainment committee for the march will be performers Will Smith, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Queen Latifah, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown and rap mogul Russell Simmons, who has asked Eve, DMX, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, D'Angelo, Common, Ice Cube, the Wu-Tang Clan and Dead Prez to cut public service announcements to promote the march." Go to Bet.com for more info. Sorry If you had any difficulty reading this news tidbit. I accidentally left off a quotation mark from the url.

September 25, 2000

Anger Management Tour

This story comes courtesy of Mtv and Sonicnet.com. Go there to check to see if they are coming to a town new you. "Limp Bizkit, Eminem, Papa Roach and Xzibit have announced they will kick off the Anger Management Tour on Oct. 19 in East Rutherford, N.J. Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst called into MTV's "Total Request Live" on Monday to announce the first batch of dates, which run through a Nov. 15 appearance in Vancouver, British Columbia. Limp Bizkit will use the outing to introduce fans to the new sounds on Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, and the band may be aided in that effort directly by Xzibit and DMX, who is expected to join for select dates late in the tour. "We have a track on the record with me and Xzibit — 'Lethal Made the Beat.' It's hot, man. It's West Coast," Durst said. "Then we have a track on the record that Swizz Beatz produced that's me, DMX, Method Man and Redman, and it's hard, man. It's really East Coast. It has that vibe, and it's really an assault." "

New Wu-Tang Music Video

This comes courtesy of MTV.com. "The new Wu album won't arrive until November 21, but on September 16, the nine-member Clan donned furry costumes and rapped along to the party tune "Gravel Pit" on a massive, "Flintstones"-style set made of fake rock, bones, and palm trees to shoot one video for three new songs. Along with "Gravel Pit," the Wu is also cramming the street number "Be Careful" and "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)" into the video, which is expected to clock in at about 10 minutes. Though Saturday's 100-plus temperatures in Los Angeles forced three of the group's scantily clad dancers off the shoot because of heat exhaustion, all of the Wu-Tang endured, despite the discomfort their costumes added to the sweltering conditions."