Ashanti’s Stalker, Devar Hurd, Goes to Prison

December 25th, 2009 | By Safiyyah

Starting in May, Devar Hurd, a 31 year old man from Indiana, started sending celebrity Ashanti and her mother Tina Douglas crude text messages and x-rates photos. He sent over 30 texts to the two, exposing himself and making graphic comments — supposedly, he was doing this to win Ashanti over (what a way to do so). He claimed that women liked sexting (sexual texting) and that Ashanti never asked him to stop and that many of his female friends enjoy it. Ashanti only cussed at him one time, he says.

He is a wanna-be hip hop singer/rapper and was given Tina Douglas’ number (who is also a Ashanti’s manager) by Irv Gotti, after he got in touch with them and sang for them. Back in 2003, Devar went to Chicago concert and saw Ashanti there — they made eye contact and from that point he “had to meet her”. He began sending text images of his genitals and him pleasuring himself while watching one of her concert videos. Devar even went as far as to send naked girl pictures to Ashanti’s father. His main defense in court is that Ashanti never protested against receiving the texts from him. So basically, she welcomed the texts he claims. Devar says that Tina hardly resisted his calls to her. He sang for her and asked if she liked him.

Well, the jury wasn’t buying any of this — and who would? He was convicted of aggravated harassment and is set to serve up to 2 years in prison. He is has been locked up at the Riker’s Island prison since July.

Maya Angelou’s Kwanzaa Documentary

December 25th, 2009 | By Safiyyah

Kwanzaa is an African American celebration that takes place each year, on the day after Christmas. Maya Angelou created a documentary called “The Black Candle”. Just like during Hanukkah, families that celebrate Kwanzaa light 7 candles and celebrate the holiday for 7 days, each day lighting one of the candles. There are three red candles, three green candles and one black candle in the middle. The movie Maya Angelou created talks about Kwanzaa and the people of Kwanzaa, as far as where they were, are and going.

About 20 million people celebrate Kwanzaa around the world each year, including in countries like France, Canada, South Africa and Jamaica. Two of the main misconceptions about the holiday is that it has religious origins or that it is an alternative to X-mas, but various black churches and temples did play a role in the growth of Kwanzaa. Hip hop also played a role in the growth of Kwanzaa, during the 80s and 90s. Plus, during the making of Maya Angelou’s film, she received a lot of support from the hip hop community, including from Dead Prez and Chuck D. Dead Prez talked about learning about Kwanzaa from hip hop and Chuck D discussed how hip hop made them culturally aware and educated them. Many people think that Kwanzaa is only for and celebrated by Blacks, but people of all races partake in the celebration each year. If you would like to learn more about Kwanzaa, you should definitely check out the film by Maya Angelou, The Black Candle.

Lil’ Wayne’s World

December 25th, 2009 | By Safiyyah

There’s been a lot on the plate of Lil Wayne, dealing with everything from court dates, hip hop albums and his new rock album (yeah, he’s dipping in pretty much everything these days). You may not have heard a lot from him this year, but we have heard from others like Gucci Mane (who’s been sentenced to 12 months in jail for violation of probation) and Drake who have been said to have taken Lil’ Wayne’s template for their own use. So far, it looks like it’s working. In some songs, Drake even sounds like Lil’ Wayne, like in the song “You the Best” (I thought it was Lil’ Wayne when I first heard it). The Carter came back to release “We are Young Money”, which features various artists. It was created by Cash Money, Young Money and Universal Motown. Lil Wayne has been working with various artists, piecing together the group Young Money– two of them being Drake and Nicki Minaj. Nicki is taking charge in the female rapping industry and is known as today’s hardest working female rapper. Other artists in Young Money include Gudda Gudda, Jae Millz, Tyga, Lil Chuckee and Lil Twist.

Also on Lil’ Wayne’s plate is his rock album, called “Rebirth”, which was accidentally leaked onto the internet when Amazon shipped out 500 or so pre-ordered CDs to customers. Rebirth was made by Universal Motown and Cash Money Records. Next year, Lil’ Wayne is scheduled to appear in court on Feb 9th for a gun possession charge that occurred in 2007. He is also set to start his sentence the same day. So far, his new group Young Money has produced two hits, “Every Girl in the World” and “Bedrock”. Hopefully Lil’ Wayne’s absence won’t slow down their productivity.

A Video of Nas Getting Arrested for DUI

December 7th, 2009 | By Safiyyah

On September 10, hip hop king, Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, was arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana. Recently, a video surfaced on the web of this event (does it look like he passed the sobriety test to you? Some think so). In the video you will see the cops asking him to count from 1001, 1002, until they said stop, while standing on one leg with both arms out and had him walk a straight line back and forth while counting to nine. Nas tells the cop that he always had “weird balance”, but guess that didn’t work out so well. At the time, he was in the car with his brother Jabari, also known as Jungle. They checked his pulse, eyes and had him stick out his tongue (which was supposedly a bit green with raised taste buds). Then what really gave it away was the smoke filled SUV they were driving. He and his brother were both arrested and released later. There are rumors that the charges are being dropped.

Of course, this isn’t the most important of Nas’s worries at the moment, especially with the case he has with his ex-wife Kelis. He has to face a lien that’s worth $2.5 million — this accumulated over 2006 and 2007 for spousal and child support. Other than the trouble he is facing, he is still working hard in the studio, trying to bring out more songs and his next album. Word has it that he is collaborating with Damian Marley for the “Distant Relatives” album and documentary. Hopefully none of this drama will faze him because he has a lot of work to do…plus I know we all can’t wait to hear what the rapper has conjured up for the new album and documentary.

Tiger Woods is Grreeat…or is He?

December 6th, 2009 | By Safiyyah

Mr. Tiger Woods is known for being the greatest golfer in the world, being half Asian and Half African American and being one of the most respected Black men of today. Now, he has transformed into an image that puts him into a category that plenty of men have already been placed in — the”typical man” category. Well, if you haven’t already heard the news, Tiger Woods has supposedly had multiple affairs on his wife Elin Woods (what a great gift for the holidays). The two have two children together — a 2 year old daughter and a 9 month old son. Just before this news was released, reporters were looking into getting “the scoop” on his wife Elin, after the accident Tiger Woods was involved in. There were scratches found on his face, but no blood was found in the car, so people started to wonder if Elin had something to do with the scars.

Later, Tiger Woods gave an apology for his transgressions and letting down his family…now, how did he let down his family? This leads us to the three known women (now it’s six women and counting) — one who has come out, one who is denying and the other who doesn’t have a comment about an alleged affair with Tiger Woods (more are now coming out). One of the women was a cocktail waitress known as Jamie Grubbs who came out saying that he sent her naughty text messages (she has proof) and even left her a voicemail asking her to change her voicemail (listen for yourself), so that it wouldn’t say her name, just her phone number because his wife was going through his phone. Apparently, his wife was already on to him, which can only make us think — did she cause those scratches? Also, word has it that there have been changes made to their pre-nup, entitling her to more money.