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According to reports the fight was over a debt Bryant had to a firm that was linked to Lil Wayne’s Young Money Records.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports:

According to a source, the firm, which works with athletes and entertainers to help them purchase luxury items such as cars, yachts and vacation homes, is linked to Lil Wayne and his record label Young Money Entertainment.

Wayne and Young Money President Mack Maine and Cash Money Entertainment CEO Brian “Baby” Williams and their entourage were present and involved in the fracas with Bryant, the source said.

Read More At The Fort Worth Star-Telegram

The million-selling rapper has signed with Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, for the memoir “Gone Till November.” Hachette announced Thursday that the book will tell of his eight months spent at the Rikers Island complex on a gun possession charge. Scheduled to come out in November, two years after his release, the book will be an “internal monologue,” based on diaries he kept while in prison.

Born Dwayne Carter Jr., Lil Wayne had the best-selling album of 2008 with “Tha Carter III,” which won a best rap album Grammy.

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1. Herman Cain

Once Herman Cain decided to run for president, he not only aligned himself with the Tea Party, but also defended them and the Republicans against charges of racism. And to add insult to injury, Cain proved that he didn’t have any knowledge of foreign policy and touted his “9-9-9″ deal like it was a special campaign for pizza.  Then came his sexual harassment allegations, which he adamantly denied with his trademark hubris. What finally brought Cain’s sideshow to a close, though, was Ginger White saying she had a 13-year affair with the psuedo-politician.

2. Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne, a rapper who is marketed to young children, regularly brags about his gang ties, guns and use of cough syrup as an illegal drug. While he may occasionally have a politically significant song, such as “Georgia Bush,” the majority of his offerings are misogynistic and related to gangs and drugs. The biggest embarrassment about Lil Wayne is not just the rapper himself, but the mainstream media company that promotes and markets him to children.

3. Kwame Kilpatrick

Kwame Kilpatrick got out of jail this year but still remains in the news. While the once-promising “Hip-Hop Mayor of Detroit” was lucky to have his killing-a-stripper case thrown out, yet another stripper claims she was paid $1,000 to perform at his mansion for an alleged drug-fueled party. Rather than atone for his past transgressions, Kilpatrick continues to blame his troubles on a “conspiracy against him.”

4. Sam Hurd

As a wide receiver for the Chicago Bears, Sam Hurd had a signing bonus of more than $1 million. Yet, Hurd chose to allegedly enter the Chicago drug game in spite of his already lucrative career  with the NFL. While many people in the inner city turn to drug dealing due to the lack of opportunities, Hurd had a job that put him on easy street. Hurd could have easily used his money to start a legitimate business, but instead, he reportedly decided to poison his community.

5. Brittany Smith and Jabrai Copney

Brittany Smith (pictured) was a senior at Harvard about to graduate with a world of opportunities waiting for her. One week before Smith was to graduate, boyfriend Jabrai Copney, a talented musician who had produced a song for New Edition at the age of 14, decided to rob a pound of marijuana from a local dealer. The robbery went bad and Copney wound up shooting and killing the man. Since Smith helped Copney hide the gun and escape from campus, she is serving two years in prison, and Copney is in jail for life.

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The duo along with several other teachers were judged based on seven different categories including, ability to capture and maintain attention, the ability to move their audience or create interaction, the ability to inspire, effective use of language, use of memory devices, ability to transform behavior or make them do as you do and the quality of the content.

Of all of the categories, Lil Wayne and Niki Minaj had the lowest scores in … wait for it … “Quality of Content.” The company’s CEO, Melvin El, said the controversial MCs were chosen because of their “swagger” and their “methods” in connecting with youth:

… The methodologies the two stars are using are undeniable forces in learning. Children learn their stuff because they have all the right methods. Apparently students are drawn in by the “swagger….” If you are a teacher today and you don’t have any swagger, you are going to struggle to get your students attention. It turns out a teacher can learn a lot from Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj.

Better Education Place uses media, such as TV, film, and theater, to create products that will facilitate literacy and promote culturally diverse entertainment. El adds:

With the help of hip hop we can make education fun again. Better Education Place is a company with a vision of helping children to develop a passion for reading and learning so they can excel at education and ultimately succeed.

Do you think this self-described “hip-hop education company” should be celebrating Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj as “teachers” other instructors should emulate or is this award a disgrace? Sound off below.

Read more at Afro.com.

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The Rapper spoke about health care, and how race plays in President Obama’s presidency.

During one instance the debate moderator posed a hypothetical question asking what a young, uninsured American in a coma should do, “Society should just let him die?” Cheers were heard and some members in the audience shouted “Yes!”

The rapper said, “I feel like as a people the most that we can do is better ourselves and learn. Then look at yourself and ask ‘Am I the person they’re talking about or am I not?’ You have to make the most of who you are because the Republicans are never going to like us.”

Read more at theGrio.com

Otherwise known as the lovechild of jeans and leggings, Jeggings are a hybrid of denim and spandex loved by teenage girls, stick-thin fashionistas, and somewhat surprisingly, Lil’ Wayne.

After his performance at the award show, writers and tweeters alike took to the web to make fun of the leopard pair of skin-tight Jeggings that Wayne was wearing. One enterprising person even created a fake Twitter account for the pants,@Waynes_Jeggings.

The irony of Lil’ Wayne is that he will wear a pair of jeggings but still attempt insult a foe by calling him a fa**ot in one of his lyrics. But then his own fans will question his sexuality for his fashion choices. Lil’ Wayne knowingly wears clothing that will bring about that attention, aware of the fact that in hip-hop, defending your masculinity is crucial to credibility. However it’s a risk he’s willing to take, perhaps a privilege of having a well-earned reputation of being a thug.

Read more at TheGrio

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Lil’ Wayne takes a shot at the throne dissin Jay-Z on the latest Tha Carter IV leak “It’s Good” featuring Drake and Jadakiss. Once again its on!

According to hip hop fans, Jay-Z started throwing jabs with his verse on “H*A*M” stating, “I’m like really half a billi nigga/ really you got baby money/ Keep it real with niggas, Niggas aint got my lady money.” Now Lil’ Wayne sent a shot at the throne.

“Talkin’ bout Baby money, I got your Baby money. Kidnap your b*tch, keep that, how much you love your lady money?, I know you fake ni**a, press your brakes ni**a, I’ll take you out, that’s a date, ni**a.”

Listen to the track at The Urban Daily

The Hartford Courant reports:

The women paid and left, but they later returned to retrieve a cell phone that one had left behind. They swore at the waitress and threatened her. Then, witnesses told police, one pulled the waitress’s hair while the other punched her. They threw the waitress to the floor and continued punching her, police said.

Read The Whole Story At The Hartford Courant

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The Notre Dame sophomore’s smooth playmaking skills, Madison Avenue smile and effortless charisma give her more crossover appeal than any other women’s college basketball player.

In the three weeks leading up to Tuesday’s national title game against second-seeded Texas A&M, Diggins has gone from 6,000 followers on Twitter to more than 45,000. Searches for her name on Yahoo spiked 2,700 percent on Sunday and went up another 17 percent on Monday.

Diggins is the subject of a new rap song inspired by her NCAA tournament performance. She has her own blog on ESPN.com. And in addition to her shout-out from Lil Wayne, singer Chris Brown also saluted her on Monday, telling her “congrats beautiful.”

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In this NewsOne exclusive, meet 10-year-old Nia, 9-year-old Nya, and their father Jabari Natur, who reveal how they conceived the song and video, and discuss the reaction to it — the good, bad, and ugly.

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Check the exclusive video below:

Check the original video below:

Although Lil Wayne released the album “I Am Not a Human Being” while in a New York jail for a weapons charge last year, he’s gearing up for a big return to the scene in 2011. He’s got a hit “6 Foot 7 Foot” and is due to release “Tha Carter IV” this spring.

I tell you what I think about that. I know this is kind of a funny question for you to ask me. But I think—you know, my daughter introduced me to rap and hip hop music after I said some things she thought were not very smart. She said, “Dad, you need to listen, all these people are smart.” This guy’s smart. And he’s got abilities. And he’s got a new chance now. And what I hope is that this is not just something to brand him as a cool guy, but that it’ll never happen again to him.

You know, I think a lot of these people, they don’t get successful in that—just like in any other area of life—by being really dumb. They’re really smart. But a lot of them had tough lives and they almost think it’s cool to get in trouble every now and then, or they don’t know how to stay out. But what I hope will happen is that he has a good life now.

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At the risk of offending my buddy Dubs—who understandably doesn’t like seeing his government name in print—I’ve gotta reproduce this stellar piece of insight he hit a bunch of us with in an e-mail earlier today.

The topic was T.I. and the fact that the rapper was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana and two possibles (codeine and ecstasy; pardon the Spades slang).

Here’s what Dubs wrote:

T.I. and the rest of his ilk still don’t believe in the hip-hop police.  It is amazing [that they find the fact that] there is a dossier on every well-known rapper and their movements are tracked by most major police departments hard to believe.  How the hell do you think Lil’ Wayne got popped in three different states on the same charges, weapons and drugs, and none of the stops have been deemed “stop for cause”?

Now, most of us have heard of the Hip Hop police. I doubt however that many people have considered why there would be a need for such an entity.

Article continues after T.I. and Tiny Arrested Gallery:

If you were thinking that the Hip Hop police exists to protect rappers who, for some reason, tend to face violent death with more frequency than do other musicians, then you’d be wrong.

The Hip Hop police exists for the same reason that the FBI’s old COINTELPRO existed: to discredit anyone in the Black community with the intelligence, charisma and natural leadership ability necessary to inspire a movement.

‘Discrediting’ being only the first goal, of course. If you lived like a monk (see: Malcolm X, the later Dr. King, Fred Hampton), you had to be killed.

Murder could be tied in with the Hip Hop police as well because after seeing that a rape accusation, multiple shooting and subsequent conviction didn’t diminish Tupac’s standing in the Black community—in fact, it did just the opposite—was anybody surprised that Pac died violently?

Were or are we surprised that of the only men ever accused—and even this is done clandestinely—of killing the Notorious B.I.G., David Mack and Amir Muhammad, one of them, Mack, is a former cop?

Or should the murders of Biggie and Tupac even be considered “crimes” since a crime is a transgression against the State and, all things considered, those two deaths seem so obviously State approved?

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Rap superstar Lil Wayne is expected to walk free from jail in November after serving eight months of his yearlong sentence.

The “Lollipop” hit maker, real name Dwayne Carter, Jr., has been serving time at New York’s tough Rikers Island prison since March, after pleading guilty to charges of gun possession.

Click here to read more.

Click here to view photos:

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NEW YORK — Lil Wayne was sentenced Monday to a year in jail in New York City for having a loaded gun on his tour bus in 2007, then was taken away in handcuffs to begin his term immediately.

The Grammy Award-winning rapper, born Dwayne Carter, was sentenced in Manhattan after pleading guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He admitted having the loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his tour bus.

The rapper will serve his sentence in city jails, not a state prison. He could be released in about eight months with good behavior.

Text continues after gallery …

Before Monday’s court appearance, it had proved difficult to actually begin Lil Wayne’s agreed-upon sentence.

First, the rap star’s sentencing was postponed in February so he could undergo surgery on his bejeweled teeth. Then, a fire shut down Manhattan’s main criminal courthouse while he was on his way there last week.

Lil Wayne has been one of music’s most prolific and profitable figures in recent years. His “Tha Carter III” was the best-selling album of 2008. His latest album, “Rebirth,” was released last month.

Facing jail with his career in full throttle, Lil Wayne has prepared with a burst of work and farewell shows and videos for fans. He said in a video clip sent last week to MTV News that he shot footage for seven music videos with various artists in one night over the weekend.

He told Rolling Stone for a story last month that he planned to keep working while behind bars.

“I’ll be still rapping in there, have a gang of raps ready when I come back home,” he said.

With good behavior, he could be released in about eight months.

City jail officials haven’t said where the multiplatinum-selling artist will be housed among their roughly 13,000 inmates. His lawyer has said she plans to ask for protective custody out of concern for his safety and health following his extended oral surgeries.

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NEW YORK — A court spokesman says rap star Lil Wayne’s sentencing in a New York City gun case has been postponed because of a courthouse fire.

The rapper had been expected to start a one-year jail term after sentencing Tuesday. He pleaded guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon.

Courts spokesman David Bookstaver said the sentencing was among proceedings canceled due a basement fire at a Lower Manhattan courthouse.

The 27-year-old rapper entered his plea in October. He admitted having a loaded gun on his tour bus in July 2007.

He has become one of rap’s biggest names and music’s biggest sellers in recent years.

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From CNN:

New York — Rapper Lil Wayne will go directly to jail after he is sentenced by a Manhattan judge Tuesday afternoon for a gun conviction, according to a person familiar with the case.

Dwayne Carter, as he is known legally, pleaded guilty to felony gun charges in a deal with prosecutors October 2009. He is expected to get a one-year prison sentence.

Text continues after gallery …

His sentencing was delayed three weeks so he could get some dental work done, including removal of his diamond-studded braces.

The person familiar with the case would not confirm where Wayne would serve his sentence.

Click here to read more.

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Lil Wayne’s Sentencing Postponed Until March 2

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From MTV News:

NEW YORK — Lil Wayne’s sentencing has been delayed until March 2 due to dental surgery, his attorney announced in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday (February 9).

RELATED: OPINION: Lil Wayne’s Gun Charge Is Real Life 101

The rapper was scheduled to be formally sentenced by a judge and begin serving his one-year term stemming from a 2007 arrest that resulted in a guilty plea in October for attempted weapons possession.

The Cash Money MC arrived shortly after 2 p.m. with his label heads Birdman and Slim. He quietly entered the courtroom as photographers snapped pictures from the hallway. Wayne wore a navy coat and black-framed glasses, and he sat still while his lawyer Stacey Richman spoke.

RELATED: Lil Wayne Gives “Farewell” Concert In New Orleans Before Prison

She informed the judge that she sent a notification to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that the rapper is suffering from a cracked tooth and would need to postpone his sentence. The judge agreed and ruled to reschedule for March 2.

Click here to read more.

———

[2/9/2010 - 1:53 p.m.] – Lil Wayne To Be Sentenced In NYC Gun Case

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK — Lil Wayne, one of music’s biggest sellers and rap’s hottest stars, will appear in court Tuesday for sentencing for a gun possession charge.

The Grammy-winning artist’s plea deal calls for a year in jail, though good behavior could shave that to as little as eight months.

“This is Lil Wayne going to jail. Nobody can tell me what that’s like,” the rapper told Rolling Stone magazine for its latest issue. “I just say I’m looking forward to it.”

He’s likely to start serving his sentence immediately, making him the latest in a string of rap stars to do time after topping the charts.

His plea deal calls for him to serve his sentence not in state prison but in the city jail system, where rapper Foxy Brown spent about eight months in 2007 and 2008 for a probation violation involving a fight she had with manicurists in a nail salon.

Rapper Remy Ma spent several months in a city jail in 2008 while awaiting sentencing for shooting a woman outside a nightclub. She’s now serving an eight-year sentence in state prison.

City Department of Correction spokesman Stephen Morello wouldn’t discuss any arrangements being made to house Lil Wayne among the roughly 13,500 inmates in the massive Rikers Island complex and other jails. Most inmates are awaiting trial.

Some inmates, including Foxy Brown, are separated from the general population because of their celebrity or other reasons, but “there’s no special-inmates wing,” Morello said.

Lil Wayne’s attorney didn’t return telephone calls seeking comment Monday.

Lil Wayne, 27, pleaded guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, admitting he illegally had a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his tour bus in July 2007. Police found the weapon when they stopped the bus after a Manhattan concert.

Little more than a week ago, Lil Wayne was reinforcing his place in rap’s pantheon with a commanding performance at the Grammy Awards ceremony. His latest album, “Rebirth,” was officially released Feb. 2.

A rapper since he was a teenager, Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter, became known for his voluminous output and collaborations with other artists.

His career has hit a peak in the last two years. His “Tha Carter III” led 2008 album sales with 2.8 million copies sold and featured such hits as the No. 1 smash “Lollipop.” His Grammys include 2008′s best rap solo performance award, for “A Milli.”

NEW ORLEANS — Lil Wayne emerged as a top-selling musician known for his clever wordplay and risque lyrics, but like rappers before him, he’s staring down a year behind bars at the peak of his career.

The artist returned to his hometown of New Orleans for a performance Monday on what he’s calling his farewell tour.

“I’m nothing without you,” he told the screaming crowd of thousands of fans at the New Orleans Arena after opening the concert with “A Milli,” which last year earned him a Grammy for best rap solo.

The 27-year-old rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, pleaded guilty in October to a weapons possession charge and will be sentenced Feb. 9. His plea deal calls for a year in jail.

RELATED: Lil Wayne Pleads Guilty To Gun Charges, Expects 1 Year Sentence

The charge stemmed from a 2007 traffic stop of his tour bus in New York when authorities said they smelled marijuana, and as they approached, he tossed aside a bag with a loaded .40-caliber handgun.

In a separate case, he also faces trial in March on felony drug possession and weapons charges in Yuma County, Ariz. More recently, he had to postpone a show one day after authorities stopped two of his buses in Texas and found marijuana. The case has been referred to the sheriff’s office.

Some of those at Monday’s concert said they were disappointed with the rapper’s legal troubles.

“It’s kinda sad, the stereotype and that he fell into it,” said 19-year-old Lee Farrell of New Orleans.

Lil Wayne is set to follow some of rap music’s biggest names — from Tupac Shakur, Lil’ Kim, Beanie Sigel and Shyne to New Orleans natives Mystikal and C-Murder — who have served a few months to several years behind bars for crimes committed after they became famous.

RELATED: OPINION: Lil Wayne’s Gun Charge Is Real Life 101

Corey “C-Murder” Miller was convicted earlier this year of second-degree murder for the 2002 shooting of a fan during a nightclub brawl. He was sentenced to life in prison.

T.I. reported to a federal prison in May for his conviction on weapons charges. He is expected to serve a year and a day.

“I hope Lil Wayne will follow in T.I.’s footsteps,” said 32-year-old Jed Wright of Metairie, who brought his 11-year-old stepson to the show as a Christmas present. “T.I. promised to turn his life around. Lil Wayne can do the same thing.”

Lil Wayne has been rapping since he was a teenager. Over the past two years, his career has reached new heights with several Grammys and gold records. His “Tha Carter III” topped all album sales in 2008 with 2.8 million copies sold. The record had the No. 1 smash “Lollipop.”

“He’s very unique,” said 18-year-old April Nguyen, of Metairie, La. “He expands his genre, even does rock music, and is constantly reinventing himself.”

Lil Wayne’s next album, “Rebirth,” is due for release Feb. 1. After New Orleans, he is scheduled to play a couple of dates in Texas and another show in southern Louisiana.

From CBS News

ARLINGTON, Texas (CBS/CBS11) Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Whitney Isleib has inadvertently stepped into a Halloween controversy by reportedly dressing up as soon-to-be incarcerated rapper Lil’ Wayne in black-face.

Photos of the blonde-haired cheerleader turned hip-hop impresario were posted to Facebook and eventually made their way to sports blog Deadspin.com.

Offensive or just plain fun? Dallas fans are split.

Click Here For The Whole Story

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I am good friends with “Charlamagne Tha God,” morning host for 100.3 “The Beat’ in Philadelphia. When asked about Lil Wayne’s gun charges, Charlamagne didn’t spare the proverbial rod. Smacking Lil Weezy across the forhead, “Tha God” went at the rapper hard, saying that by getting a year in prison, Wayne “got exactly what he deserved.”

Charlamagne is stricter than I am when it comes to discussing ways to manage potential poisons in our society. He is a righteous brother and stands up for what he believes in. He also represents a breath of fresh air in hip-hop, where it seems that everything has to always be “100 percent hood, 100 percent of the time.” The hood is not nearly as violent, promiscuous and chaotic as commercialized hip-hop has made it out to be. I don’t always see eye to eye with Charlamagne, but we have respect for one another’s viewpoints.

RELATED: Lil Wayne Pleads Guilty To Gun Charges, Expects 1 Year Sentence

When it comes to Lil Wayne being sent to prison, part of me feels bad for him. Wayne has become a living, breathing, over-tattooed personification of the most detrimental elements in our society. He has somehow been convinced that he should live his life in the most destructive manner possible, without regard to how his choices might affect his children, his future and his community. To be quite honest, I see death in Lil Wayne, the same way I saw death in Tupac before he was shot in 1996. If Weezy lives past the age of 35, I will be absolutely shocked. I sincerely hope my instincts are wrong.

Although I don’t agree with the messages in Lil Wayne’s songs, my disposition toward Weezy has grown from flat out anger to one of cautious, mildly frustrated, creative respect. I know that there is a reason that millions of people love his music, and he is certainly talented. At the same time, our culture cannot fully embrace the likes of Lil Wayne without seriously considering the long-term consequences our society will face as a result of black youth emulating Lil Wayne’s behavior. Sometimes, a prolonged moment of silence can help a man reconnect with his conscience, which makes me pray that Lil Wayne emerges from prison a more thoughtful and socially productive man.

RELATED: OPINION: The Fall & Fall Of Lil Wayne

Outside of the message in Wayne’s lyrics, the real-life price he is paying by going to prison sends an even greater message to those who follow him. Lil Wayne’s recent gun charge communicates a simple fundamental truth: if you break the law, you are going to be incarcerated. My favorite rapper, TI, is also feeling real-life effects of the fact that he too has been tempted to allow the hyper-masculine fantasy arena of gangster rap to spill over into the real world where people actually go to prison for carrying firearms. At the same time, it must be recognized (as TI eloquently describes in his album “Paper Trail”) that in the game of hip-hop, trouble can sometimes follow you. So, most of us should be careful about judging the manner by which an artist responds to the threats around him. The solutions are not always as simple as they might seem.

When Ice Cube and NWA (the “gangster rap grandparents” of Lil Wayne and TI) came on the scene, I thought that this art form was exciting and brilliant. I still think it is. But there absolutely, positively, must come a day where rappers do not have to risk being shot or going to prison in order to prove that they are men. Lil Wayne’s gun charge and TI’s conviction for attempting to buy machine guns didn’t seem necessary, and I’ve noticed that hip-hop is the only genre where every song is about either sex, violence, making money or bragging about how great you are. There is nothing creative about an industry where every song covers the same topic.

I agreed with Charlamagne’s critique of Lil Wayne and I’ll share that with him when we’re on the air together Thursday. When I see Lil Wayne, I see the productive genius of Tupac and undisciplined behavior of Eazy-E, mixed with the wild times of any rock singer featured on a Vh-1 “Behind the Music” Special. There is deeper part of me that cries for Lil Wayne, for I feel that he too is trapped by the image that he himself has created. Even Weezy will get tired of this life at some point.

Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne pleaded guilty to attempted weapon possession Thursday, and expects to receive a one-year jail sentence.

He previously had pleaded not guilty to illegal gun-possession charges that carried at least 31/2 years in prison upon conviction.

Police said a gun was found on his tour bus in Manhattan in 2007.

The rapper, born Dwayne Carter, won last year’s best rap solo performance Grammy for A Milli . His albums include Tha Carter , Tha Carter II and Tha Carter III .

His trial had been due to start Jan. 20.

The judge had been holding a hearing on a debated DNA profiling technique used to tie the rapper to the gun.

Lil Wayne, 27, also is scheduled for trial in Arizona on felony drug-possession and weapons charges. He has pleaded not guilty in that case, which arose from an arrest at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in January, 2008.

Manhattan prosecutors said small amounts of DNA found on the loaded weapon connected it to the platinum-selling artist. Defence lawyer Stacey Richman said the gun wasn’t Lil Wayne’s, and the testing technique was too problematic to prove otherwise.

Police pulled over Lil Wayne’s tour bus in Columbus Circle on July 22, 2007. They said they had seen and smelled marijuana smoke wafting out the door before the bus left a concert venue minutes earlier.

Police said that as an officer approached, the rapper tossed away a Louis Vuitton bag containing a gun.
The defense disputed officers’ basis for searching the bus and noted that more than a dozen other people were aboard.

NEW YORK — Lil Wayne has a date in a Manhattan courtroom, but DNA science will take center stage.

A hearing on a DNA profiling technique used in the rapper’s 2007 gun-possession case was due to start Wednesday. It concerns a process used for identifying people from tiny amounts of DNA — including some that prosecutors say ties the Grammy Award-winner to a gun found on his tour bus after a concert.

The 27-year-old has pleaded not guilty. He faces at least 3 1/2 years in prison if convicted.
The hearing aims to establish whether what’s known as low copy number DNA profiling has general scientific acceptance.

Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter, won last year’s best rap solo performance Grammy for “A Milli.” His albums include “Tha Carter,” “Tha Carter II” and “Tha Carter III.”

Keri Hilson’s “Knock You Down” was on for the millionth time yesterday and I didn’t mind because I like the song and all but there’s one thing that does bother me about when that song is played on the radio; censors blank out two words that aren’t even obscene!

When Ne-Yo sings, “I used to be commander and chief of my pimp ship flying high…” they blank out the word “ship”.

Then when Kanye spits, “How can you ask someone who’s only average…?” they blank out the word “ask”.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that hyper sensitive censors hit the mute button on words that might have sounded like fouler words or words that were innocuous in most cases and only sometimes slightly risky due to context. Heck, Wanye and Baby’s “Always Strapped” has the second word in its title blanked depending on the time of day or which station you catch it on.

If you think back to 2003, in the chorus to 50 Cent’s “What Up Gangsta“, when 50 spit, “What up Blood, what up Cuz…” the “Blood” part always got blanked. This I found particularly disturbing because the censor, who was clearly showing his affinity for street gangs by omitting the reference to a popular one, also blatantly missed the fact that “Cuz” is just another word for “Crip” (the rivals to the Bloods). This could make it seem as if the radio endorsed the Crips over the Bloods.

By far, in my opinion, the worst case of runaway censorship however had to be on The Notorious B.I.G.’s “One More Chance” remix when Big spit “Navajos creep me in their teepee…” “Navajos” would get garbled-which is similar to being blanked, just with distorted audio- thereby rendering an entire nation of Native Americans too perverse to mention aloud.

The late great comedian George Carlin had a standup routine where he listed the 7 words that were, under all circumstances, too offensive to ever say on television or the radio. I’m not gonna write them here (just click on Carlin’s name if you’ve absolutely GOTTA hear them), but I will give you their cleaner alternatives: feces, urine, womb, copulation, chicken lollipop, female-parent fornicator and the palindrome for “breast”.

What do ya’ll think of censorship? Are there truly such things as “bad” words and if so, which words are they?

Back when I still had my looks and used to hit the downtown Manhattan club scene with a book in my back pocket, there was a song that, whenever played, would get the biggest reaction from the ladies in the house. It was bonus cut on Dr. Dre’s Chronic CD; a song known quite unprintably as “_______ Ain’t ____.”

Imagine my amazement! I would have thought that women would hate this song. But they’d go running out there on the dance floor, dancing with each other and singing all the lyrics! To my thinking at the time, this would have been akin to me starting to pop and lock to a song called “Hang Me a Darkie”.

Of course, this song had one of the best beats on the entire Chronic CD and when I finally did get around to asking one of the young lovelies how she could ignore the obvious insults that the lyrics flung at her gender she replied simply, “The song’s not talkin’ about me!”

“Oh,” I said, starting to dance myself. “You sure?”

Now, if we were face to face and you asked me right now what my favorite radio song was I’d lie and say it was John Legend moaning like Jeffrey Osborne after a bad car accident and then, thankfully, letting Estelle get busy on “No Other Love.”

Of course, the truth is, it’s not that song. It’s actually Lil Wayne and Birdman with “Always Strapped”. I know, I know, I know…

In this song, you have all the worst: crass materialism, forced lesbian acts, drug abuse, violence involving “soda” and a coerced Young and the Restless lifestyle. Yet despite the dreadful subject matter, the lyrics are actually a perfect study in minimalism, with Weezy proving that the wordier is not always the better by delivering a 16 as good as I’ve heard all season.

That was a tough confession for me to make. Somebody please admit to liking “Birthday Sex“ or something worse so I can feel a little bit better about myself.

I’m a hip hop fan so what’s happening right now scares me to death! No one is saying anything of value and while this has happened before periodically, there’s always been a movement just beneath the surface somewhere prepared to set things back on track.

Last year, we all totally missed Nas’ sensational Untitled and only paid attention to the shock-value elements of Young Jeezy’s almost equally stellar The Recession as we rushed to pat ourselves on the back and prove ourselves hip by our wholesale endorsement of Weezy’s Tha Carter III. You can’t knock Tha Carter III, though. I was a great album. It was probably third or fourth (behind Rick Ross’ Trilla) or even fifth (behind TI’s Paper Trail) as best hip hop album of the year.

But now that, thanks to Jerry Barrow and the good folks over at The Urban Daily, it can no longer be denied that poor Wayne is spiraling further and further away rational thought, one would think that we could turn to the man that has always seemed to deliver for us in times of need.

Just like Jordan at the end and Ali at the end even Jay-Z’s former haters are starting to cherish him because the thought of hip hop without him is just too bleak. But if the songs that I’ve heard so far off the upcoming Blueprint 3 (“D.O.A.“, “BK Anthem“, “Run This Town“) are any indication, Jay’s almost certainly gonna add to the problem not alleviate it.

Barack Obama’s in the White House and the last thing we need is more navel-gazing rap. I’m not asking Jay to deliver the hip hop What’s Going On (I tried that before, didn’t work) but the thought that a man who has proven himself beyond argument to be the greatest MC to ever do it continuing to rhyme seemingly just to show how nice he is, is akin to Ali getting into the ring way past his prime buoyed by ego alone.  Nothing good can come from it.

Maybe it’s us, though. Maybe hip hop fans aren’t yet mature enough to let our stars have 40-year careers like rock fans do. Maybe we’d kill a Bob Dylan if we had one. KRS, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and LL Cool J are all still alive and even though it’s been rumored that one or more of them still records, I won’t believe that until I hear one of their new songs on the radio.

Think that’ll happen?

Steve McNair was absolutely my favorite quarterback of all-time. Me and the great BumpCity were watching BET late one night when I saw McNair, then of Alcorn State, do things that I didn’t think were possible on the football field. I rooted for him as much as possible (being that I am a Jets fan) and I was broken-hearted when his Tennessee Titans came 1 yard short of tying the Super Bowl in 2000 and lost to the St. Louis Rams.

Then I heard over the weekend that McNair and a woman that was not his wife were shot and killed in his condo (despite the fact that Steve was married with 4 kids) and all I could think of was Sam Cooke.

Sam Cooke had the single most beautiful voice of any male singer in recorded history. Switching back and forth being gospel and rhythm and blues like an ambidextrous NBA point guard, Cooke was on top of both games simultaneously. He also, legendarily, had the Lil Wayne disease of wanting to, ahem, know every girl in the world.

Also a married father, Cooke checked into LA’s Hacienda Motel on December 11, 1964 for a little action with a woman named Lisa Boyer who apparently robbed him. Furious, Cooke demanded that hotel clerk Bertha Franklin tell him the whereabouts of Boyer-and his pants and underwear. Things got ugly. Sam’s last words ever were “Lady, you shot me!”

Al Green’s still alive, thank God-literally. The “other” Reverend Al wasn’t cheating on his own wife with Mary Woodson back in 1974; they were both cheating on Woodson’s husband.

When the “Love and Happiness“, “Let’s Stay Together” singer refused to marry Woodson, she threw a pan of boiling hot grits on him while he was in the shower causing third degree burns on his back, stomach and arms. Woodson then reportedly shot herself with Al’s gun, committing suicide, and Al Green became an ordained minister.

Since Steve McNair was shot multiple times and the woman he was with was shot only once and there was a gun found nearby, the case is being treated as a murder-suicide.

This is one of those instances when the moral of the story is the story itself.

Shakespeare wrote, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”, and not since Leon Spinks was briefly champion of the heavyweight division in 1978 has a top ranked dude looked so utterly baffled as to how to conduct himself as Lil Wayne.

This past year, not only has Wayne had to deal with standard rapper BS like drug and gun charges, but he’s made some bizarre personal choices as well. Already a father of two by two different women, the rapper reportedly now has another two children on the way and dueling prospective baby mamas in actress Lauren London and singer Nivea. Now, while this is certainly Wayne’s personal business and even biblical in a “King Solomon” kinda way, it’s also gotta be a bit of a distraction for a man that wishes to stay at the top of his game.

And not even Wayne’s professional career has made too much sense as of late. After inexplicably recording a song entitled “Whip It Like a Slave,” he appeared on the BET Awards this past Sunday night and as April Silver so brilliantly pointed out, by performing a song about wanting to sex every girl in the world while there were adolescents running around on stage, he actually flirted with encouraging pedophilia!

Now, if being the top dog since last year’s BET Awards has been Wayne’s psychological hurdle, he should be able to rest a little easier-he’s no longer king. As usual, the BET Awards were the coronation for a new top rapper. The only difference was that this time, despite a token attempt to retain the throne by Wayne, a injury-hobbled grab for the ring by Drake, and a desperate attempt by Hov to be the first man to regain the throne since it bounced around a lot between 86-92, this championship was actually decided off-stage. The new king just sat back and watched the whole show with his queen: regal and in control.

Exactly who’s had a better year than Kanye West? His most recent album, “808s and Heartbreak” was sensational. His song “Amazing” was selected by the NBA as the soundtrack to this year’s playoffs. And every guest appearance he’s made recently, be it on the remix of Beyonce’s “Big Ego“, on The Dream’s “Walking on the Moon” or on Keri Hilson’s “Knock You Down“, has been blistering. Paraphrasing poet Nikki Giovanni, as far as this past year is concerned: even Kanye’s mistakes have been perfect.

So get well, Wayne. As fans, we’re not allowed to dissect a man’s life, only his art. And what’s scary now is that at this point, the only two paths that seem to be available to you are the way of Bob Marley, or the way of the Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

From HipHopAndPolitics.com

Last night, live at the BET Awards in Los Angeles, a room full of head-bobbing, consenting adults bounced to Drake and Lil Wayne’s back-to-back performances of the hit songs “Best I Ever Had” and “Every Girl.” I watched, underwhelmed. I wanted more “Michael” in what was supposed to be this award-show-turned-Michael-Jackson-tribute. I watched, ever puzzled by the Lil Wayne phenomena that has captivated the music industry. I watched, wondering when the set was going to end.

Then the little girls came onstage…literally the little girls. “Are those children?” I asked out loud, in disbelief. Then the camera panned the audience. Everyone was still head-bobbing as the little Black girls huddled around these superstars.

“Are those little girls on stage…for this song?!?!” I, still in disbelief, lost breath and forced myself to exhale. “Why are these little girls featured on this performance? Is somebody going to stop this?” Again, the show was live, though for a nano-second, I was hoping that a hunched-over stage manager would bust through from back stage to scoop up the children, rescuing them from harm’s way…from being associated from this song. But instead, what those girls witnessed from the stage was hundreds and hundreds of adults (mostly Black people) staring back at them, co-signing the performance. These girls, who all appeared to be pre-teens, were having their 15 minutes of glam on one of the biggest nights in televised Black entertainment history, with two of pop culture’s biggest stars at the moment, with millions of people watching. They must have been bubbling with girlish excitement, shimmering like princesses all night. Pure irony: one of them wore a red ballerina tutu for the special occasion. And we applauded them.

I’m told that one of the girls is Lil Wayne’s daughter. That doesn’t matter. In fact that makes it worse. Last night we were reminded that there are few safe spaces for our little girls to be children; that some of us are willing to trade their innocence for a good head nod. BET and Lil Wayne are beneath low because, in effect, they have given premium assurance to these and other little girls that their best value, their shining moment, their gifts to display to the world, all lie within a context that says they are fuckable.

I’m also told by industry insiders that Lil Wayne was continuously sexually molested as a child, remains in a psychologically abusive relationship with the molester, and for that reason his understanding of what’s appropriate and what’s not appropriate for children is terribly skewed. I don’t know if that is true. If it is, help is needed. If it is true, it might explain something regarding Lil Wayne’s compliance in this offense. But what about BET’s nickel in this dime?

But did no one care that Lil Wayne’s song Every Girl is about grown men and their sexual escapades with women? Did the meaning and intent of the song matter to anyone, this song whose hook and other lyrics required a re-write in order to get air play? “I wish I could love every girl in the world.” That’s the radio-friendly version of “I wish I could f–k every girl in the world.” But Lil Wayne’s BET performance was the clean edit of the song. Perhaps he (and the show producers) thought that there was nothing wrong in featuring the children in the clean version. Perhaps we were supposed to see the whole bit as cute and innocent. Absolutely not. There’s no other way to cut it: in presenting little girls in a performance of a song that is about sex, group sex, and more sex, BET and Lil Wayne set the stage for child pornography. It doesn’t matter what version of the song was played, much like a man who batters women is still an abusive man, even if uses flowery phrases while battering.In the song, Lil Wayne mentions superstar Miley Cyrus, but Cyrus gets a pass on this lyrical sex escapade because, as he acknowledges, she is a minor. Huh? Why, then, is he comfortable with featuring four minors, these four little Black girls, in the show? How deep exactly is this inability of some men to respect women, and how deep is Lil Wayne’s disregard for the safety of little girls?

Read The Whole Story

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Smokey Fontaine and I go through this every year. We bicker like children over the socio-political implications of the annual BET Awards. I think last year’s show picked our current president. He thinks it was ‘ok’.

One thing we do seem to agree on, though, is that the best rap performance is usually a coronation of the at-the-minute top rapper in the game. In 2001, Jay-Z had the gall to actually debut the song “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” and killed it. In 2003, 50 Cent blew the doors off the show with “What Up Gangsta”. Last year, Lil Wayne sang something; but it was good.

And I can’t deny that I wasn’t waiting for this moment again, as part of the numbing process. I was hoping that maybe Drake would do something interesting, but he just sat there, rapping from a stool like an old man. I also hoped that Hov would cut his “DOA” performance short to kick his lead verse from the remix of “You Rock My World” but I was disappointed. Lil Wayne didn’t disappoint me any more than he has of late, which was completely.

Other offenders on this horrible night were Beyonce. By showing up on stage in an all white gown, she had me gassed to think that she was gonna refigure Diana Ross’ “Missing You” tribute to Marvin Gaye for… you know, but she sang “Ave Maria” and I wanted to throw some kind of magical shoe that could pass through my television screen and conk her on the head.

But there was good, of course. Much good. Maxwell was brilliant and single-handedly brought back the double-breasted suit. Ne-Yo freaked his version of “The Lady In My Life”. The OJays were great with the exception of not singing “I Love Music“, “Love Train” or “Cry Together“.  And Jamie Foxx was a competent host and funny and he was also the only one that gave us what we needed all night long. Then Janet Jackson showed up to reclaim what was hers.

After that, we went back to mourning. I must admit, it was an almost impossible task trying to both celebrate and grieve at the same time and on only three days notice.

But it was done.

Rapper Lil Wayne appeared in court for a pretrial update on the investigation into drug possession and weapons charges he faces in Yuma County, Ariz.

His attorney said he was in good spirits, even stopping to sign autographs for about a dozen fans after the hearing in Yuma.

Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, was arrested at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 8 east of Yuma in January 2008. Authorities said they found cocaine, Ecstasy and a handgun on his tour bus.

He was ordered by a judge to attend Tuesday’s pretrial hearing.

James Tilson, the rapper’s attorney, said he told the Yuma County Superior Court judge that the U.S. Border Patrol hasn’t turned over records the defense requested months ago.

Tilson said border officials told the Yuma County Attorney’s Office they do not plan to release the training record of the drug-sniffing dog used in the incident.

“If the dog is not reliable, then that puts the entire probable cause for the stop into question,” he said.

Tilson also plans to renew a request for any video recorded by border cameras the day the rapper was stopped.

The judge set another court date for Aug. 11.

Carter faces one count each of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of dangerous drugs and weapons misconduct. He previously pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In March, a judge in Atlanta dismissed drug charges stemming from a 2006 bust against the rapper. Carter, who won three Grammys for his album, “Tha Carter III,” was recently ranked as one of the top-earning concert tours.

If I were gay, I’d hate today’s heterosexual Black men for being so, well, gay. I would never be sure who to hit on. Back in the days, looking good for a man meant a wild afro, a nappy beard or butcher-block sideburns, a leather coat, leather shoes and possibly even leather pants. Now, looking good for a man means skinny jeans, loud colors, funny sneakers, plucked eyebrows, “manscaping” and more gels, creams and products than a prom queen.

What happened? Where did all our heroes go? I miss the men from my pop’s and my uncle’s generation. Men that smoked “cheeba” and drove Cadillacs; men that always bordered on sexual harassment but usually ended up scoring anyway; men that you had to apologize for at dinner parties because they were brutish and socially inept and always ready to fight about it.

Today’s men are way more polished and refined. They’re like girls, actually. Debutantes. I don’t know, maybe it was the times. The men of the times that I miss had just come out of the 60′s and were still looking for revenge. Everything about them was hard. Even the R&B of the time was hard. These guys that we’ve got gallivanting around today don’t even have hard hip hop!

Now don’t get me wrong; nobody’s happier than me that the thug movement is dead. Nothing, not even a “flaming bottom” was gayer than a post-Tupac Shakur thug. But Public Enemy was hard. X Clan was hard. NWA was hard. Weezy is king, but is he…? Forget it.

It’d be dismissive and counter-revolutionary to blame the women. To suggest that Black women have somehow “held back” or retarded Black male development is absurd; it’s bogus. The only thing that women can do is ask themselves if they’re happy with these weirdly dressed things that expect them to always make the first move. As an Econ major, I know for a fact that supply will eventually follow demand.

Ladies: demand better!

The two hottest songs on the radio right now are Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” and Lil Wayne’s “Every Girl”. What makes this interesting is not only the fact that Drake is affiliated with Wayne’s Young Money label, but the fact that the two songs offer completely conflicting and polar opposite perspectives on relationships with women.

In the chorus of Drake’s song, the rapper chants “I want this forever”—talking about his thing with the girl to whom the song is dedicated. In the chorus of Wayne’s song, Wayne chants “I just want to (shag) every girl in the world.”

I asked eight dudes at my Factotum-like night gig which of the two they’d want: a sky’s-the-limit relationship where you could be president or even crowned king somewhere but would have to remain monogamous with one woman or sex with a different chick every night.

Here’s what they said:

“You get bored with the same thing every night,” explained a 22-year-old cat.

“I need a little variety,” said a 35 year-old Spanish cat.

“A different chick every night!” cheered a 39 year-old Haitian cat. “Shiii, I’m a freak! My uncle’s a freak, my cousin’s a freak, my nephew’s a freak, my granddaddy…”

When I left this dude’s side, he was still naming freaks.

“A man that chases after different women is a man unworthy of respect,” explained our shift supervisor, a 55 year-old, married Ghanaian.

“Before, I might have taken a different girl every night,” began a 29 year-old married cat. “But now, I’ve had that. I did that. I’m taking one girl.”

“I could stick with one girl,” said a 26 year-old brother. “If her (stuff) was good!”

“If it’s your girl, you stick with her,” said this 25 year-old Italian cat that’s been with his same Dominican lady for the last 7 years.

“(Forget) that!” screamed this 20 year-old cat. “I’ma keep it one hundred: I’m (shagging) everything!”

This made our vote a 4-4 tie.

What’s your vote?

Like him or not, until the ascension of Weezy in 2008, Jay-Z had been the titular “Best MC in the Game” for an astonishing 11 years. His reign began in 1997 with the death of the Notorious B.I.G. who had taken the reigns from Snoop in ‘95, who himself had come to power after that contentious period between 1986-1992 when the crown went back and forth regularly between Rakim and KRS-One, with Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and LL Cool J all staking legitimate claims.

But then I turned on the radio Friday evening and heard Mr. Cee and Funkmaster Flex cackling like two geriatrics that had just discovered internet porn. Turns out, each of these two get a shout-out in Jay-Z’s latest song. Since they’ve also got some scores to settle of their own, they seem to figure that Hov’s latest is just the cover they needed to get behind for them to begin firing wildly.

In Jay-Z’s newest song, D.O.A., or Death of Autotune, Hov uses his status as a trend-setter and tastemaker to attempt to end the latest trend run amok, rappers and singers who use Autotune; that infuriating voice altering device, first brought to the surface by Peter Frampton, which makes everybody sound like Roger Troutman on crack. T-Pain, today’s standard bearer of the device’s usage, gets a special mention (well, diss) in the song as well.

It’s a good song. The lyrics are vintage Jay, and the No I.D. track is steady with occasional flashes of the spectacular. But will it work?

Sure, Jay saying that “I don’t wear jerseys, I’m 30 plus” ended the trend of grown men running around impersonating sports stars and his throwaway lyric, “I guess I got my swagger back” started the runaway usage of a word that was never even clearly defined as complimentary. We can attribute “ass-bet”, “real talk” and a host of others to him and his crew, but the difference this time seems to be that while those other culture-altering phenomenon were organic, never before has Hov attempted something so clearly contrived. Added to the risk involved is that Jay’s own label-mate, protégé and the Kobe to his Jordan—Kanye West—is completely addicted to Autotune.

Sounds like the old man’s gone off his meds.

]]> http://newsone.com/entertainment/rk-byers/opinion-grumpy-old-men-jay-z-and-his-geezer-friends-lodge-a-formal-complaint/feed/ 43 http://newsone.com/entertainment/casey-gane-mccalla/lil-wayne-will-face-gun-charges/ http://newsone.com/entertainment/casey-gane-mccalla/lil-wayne-will-face-gun-charges/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:35:40 +0000 Casey Gane-McCalla, Lead Blogger http://newsone.com/?p=120761 Lil Wayne will face charges on April 20th for an incident in 2007 in which his a gun was found in his tour bus.Wayne was greeted by cheering fans at his court appearance. If convicted, he could face 15 years in prison.  A police officer testified that she saw Wayne on the bus trying to flush marijuana down the toilet and hiding a Louis Vutton bag with a gun... Read more..]]>

Lil Wayne will face charges on April 20th for an incident in 2007 in which his a gun was found in his tour bus.Wayne was greeted by cheering fans at his court appearance. If convicted, he could face 15 years in prison.  A police officer testified that she saw Wayne on the bus trying to flush marijuana down the toilet and hiding a Louis Vutton bag with a gun. It was after a 2007 Concert with other rappers including Ja Rule who was also arrested on marijuana charges.

Insiders have claimed that Lil Wane was a victim of the infamous Hip Hop cops. Lil Wayne was also caught with 29 grams of cocaine, 41 grams of ecstasy and 105 grams of marijuana in Arizona last year.

Also See

Is Lil Wayne Involved With a Female Artists on His Label?

Check Out a Lil Wayne Gallery

Watch a Video of Wayne’s Drug Arrest

Lil Wayne has proven that the third time was indeed the charm as his latest album, Tha Carter III, has earned him eight Grammy nominations, leading all artists for the 51st Annual Grammy Awards.

Wayne isn’t the only hip-hop act with multiple nods. Jay-Z, Ne-Yo and Kanye West each earned six nods, while R&B newcomer Jazmine Sullivan received five and T.I., Lupe Fiasco superproducer Danger Mouse each have four nominations.

“The Grammy Awards process once again has yielded a comprehensive, diverse and eclectic group of
excellent nominees across multiple genres,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy.
“This year’s nominations are truly reflective of the talented community of artists and creators who represent
some of the highest levels of musical excellence.”

For the first time, nominations for the annual Grammy Awards were announced on primetime television as part of “The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! — Countdown To Music’s Biggest Night.” The one-hour special, broadcast live on CBS from Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, featured past Grammy winners and nominees reading nominations in several categories, as well as performing songs from the Grammy Hall of Fame in celebration of the grand opening of the Grammy Museum.

Hosted by LL Cool J and country singer Taylor Swift, presenters and performers included Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, The Foo Fighters, B.B. King and John Mayer. The 51st Annual Grammy Awards will be held on Feb. 8, 2009 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS. – RASHAUN HALL

Following is a sampling of nominations in 110 categories from the Grammy Awards’ 32 Fields:

Album Of The Year:
Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends — Coldplay
Tha Carter III — Lil Wayne
Year Of The Gentleman — Ne-Yo
Raising Sand — Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
In Rainbows — Radiohead

Record Of The Year:
“Chasing Pavements” — Adele
“Viva La Vida” — Coldplay
“Bleeding Love” — Leona Lewis
“Paper Planes” — M.I.A
“Please Read The Letter” — Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Best New Artist:
Adele
Duffy
Jonas Brothers
Lady Antebellum
Jazmine Sullivan

Song Of The Year:
“American Boy” — William Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir, John Stephens, Estelle Swaray
& Kanye West, songwriters (Estelle Featuring Kanye West)
“Chasing Pavements” — Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Adele)
“I’m Yours” — Jason Mraz, songwriter (Jason Mraz)
“Love Song” — Sara Bareilles, songwriter (Sara Bareilles)
“Viva La Vida” — Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, & Chris Martin, songwriters
(Coldplay)

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals:
“Lesson Learned” — Alicia Keys & John Mayer
“4 Minutes” — Madonna, Justin Timberlake & Timbaland
“Rich Woman” — Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
“If I Never See Your Face Again” — Rihanna & Maroon 5
“No Air” — Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals:
“Ribbon In The Sky” — Boyz II Men
“Words” — Anthony David Featuring Indie.Arie
“Stay With Me (By The Sea)” — Al Green Featuring John Legend
“I’m His Only Woman” — Jennifer Hudson Featuring Fantasia
“Never Give You Up” — Raphael Saadiq Featuring Stevie Wonder & CJ Hilton

Best Urban/Alternative Performance:
“Say Goodbye To Love” — Kenna
“Wanna Be” — Maiysha
“Be OK” — Chrisette Michele Featuring will.i.am
“Many Moons” — Janelle Monae
“Lovin You (Music)” — Wayna Featuring Kokayi

For Best R&B Album:
Love & Life — Eric Benét
Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA — Boyz II Men
Lay It Down — Al Green
Jennifer Hudson — Jennifer Hudson
The Way I See It — Raphael Saadiq

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration:
“American Boy” — Estelle Featuring Kanye West
“Low” — Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain
“Green Light” — John Legend & Andre 3000
“Got Money” — Lil Wayne Featuring T-Pain
“Superstar” — Lupe Fiasco Featuring Matthew Santos

Best Rap Song:
“Lollipop” — D. Carter, S. Garrett, D.Harrison, J. Scheffer & R. Zamor, songwriters
(Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major)
“Low” — T. Dillard, M. Humphrey & T-Pain, songwriters (Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain)
“Sexual Eruption” — Calvin Broadus, S. Lovejoy & D. Stewart, songwriters (Snoop Dogg)
“Superstar” — Lupe Fiasco & Soundtrakk, songwriter (Lupe Fiasco Featuring Matthew Santos)
“Swagga Like Us” — D. Carter, S. Carter, Clifford Harris, & Kanye West, songwriters (M. Arulpragasam,
N. Headon, M. Jones, J. Mellor, T. Pentz, P. Simonon, songwriters)(Jay-Z & T.I. Featuring Kanye West
& Lil Wayne)

Best Rap Album:
American Gangster — Jay-Z
Tha Carter III — Lil Wayne
The Cool — Lupe Fiasco
Nas — Nas
Paper Trail — T.I.

At the BET hip-hop awards Lil Wayne announced he had a son on the way. MediaTakeOut is claiming to have pictures of the woman who gave birth to Lil Wayne’s son in Cincinnati Ohio yesterday.

Rumors say she is part Vietnamese and part white. There were also rumors that the woman was a college girl, or a nail technician, but the pictures of her seem to indicate that she’s a stripper.

Lil Wayne’s romantic life has been the cause of much speculation recently. He had previously been linked to rapper Trina, actress Lauren London, and there is more speculation that he is also fathering children with his former girlfriend, Nivea and another girlfriend Karrine Stephans aka Superhead.

Here’s a Picture of Sarah, The Mother of Lil Wayne’s Child