Paul Newman R.I.P.

Damn. Paul Newman, one of my favorite actors of all-time, passed away today after a long battle with cancer.

My favorite Paul Newman scene remains this, from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid:

Newman was not only a great actor but a humanitarian who did lots for charities. R.I.P.

T.I. - "What Up, What's Happening"

Well, at least now know why this beef is dead.

Funkmaster Flex Airs Out R. Kelly

I've always liked Flex, not just for his show, but his willingness to matter-of-factly air people out that need it (like he did Benzino a few years back, calling him the "worst rapper ever" amongst other truths/insults). So it's good to see Flex get at Robert like this, now if someone could get him his own TV show.

Debbie Mathers To Release Memoir About Eminem

Yeah, just what the world's been waiting for: Debbie Mathers is going to tell her side of the story. Listen, Eminen has made plenty of $$$ talking about his personal life on his records, but has there ever been a mom more exploitative of their kid than Debbie considering all the havoc she's tried to wreck on his career while trying to make money off of him?

Eminem's mother, Debbie Nelson, is gearing up for the release of her tell-all book titled My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem.

According to MTV, the book chronicles Nelson’s troubled relationship with Eminem and includes the rapper’s never-before-seen lyrics and poems that he wrote before his rise to fame.

Eminem, who has been out of the spotlight for the past few years, has begun working on his sixth solo album.

The album is currently untitled and is expected in stores late 2008/early 2009.

O.J. Gets All-White Jury

In other words he's fucked:

An all-white jury of 12 was chosen to decide the fate of OJ Simpson who faces trial on kidnapping and armed robbery charges that could see the former football star jailed for life.

Simpson, 61, faces 12 charges stemming from a confrontation in a hotel room in September last year after which he and a gang of gun-toting cohorts left with pillow cases stuffed full of sports memorabilia.

In the state of Nevada, kidnapping and armed robbery both carry potential life sentences.

Simpson's latest ordeal comes 13 years after he was acquitted of killing his former wife and her friend.

Kanye West Beats Up Photographer

Playing tough guy with a photographer? Wonder if he'll blame President Bush for this one too.

Sleeping While Black

Here's some shocking footage of a Muslim dude on a SEPTA train in Philly using a hammer to beat the crap out of some dude who apparently had the audacity to be sleeping on the train. Mind you, this is AFTER the guy tells his son to have a seat nearby so he can get on with handling his business. Shame on the all the passengers on the train who did nothing but look on or get up and run while an innocent man is nearly beaten to death. Thankfully, crazy Muslim dude (whose been arrested for all sorts of stuff including rape) has been caught by the police.

Don't Mess With Gary Coleman

Damn, apparently having parents who try to steal all your hard-earned loot growing up (not to mention dealing with all the drama that comes from being a former child star) can really scar you for life as Gary Coleman continues to make news for all the wrong reasons:

Actor Gary Coleman hit a pedestrian with his truck after arguing with him in a local bowling alley, police said.

Payson police Lt. Bill Wright said Colt Rushton and Coleman got into an argument in the early morning hours Saturday over pictures Rushton had taken of Coleman inside the bowling alley. He said the argument continued outside, and that Coleman hit Rushton and a car as he was backing out of a parking space.

Neither man was issued a citation, and Wright said it wasn't clear whether Coleman hit Rushton on purpose. He said neither man was giving authorities much information.

"We're currently trying to sort through those issues," Wright told the Deseret News of Salt Lake City. "We've been able to establish there was an argument between the two, due to pictures Rushton wanted to take. He took some of Gary Coleman, and (Coleman) wasn't happy about it."

Rushton was taken to a hospital and treated for minor injuries and released.

Blender Calls Tupac The Most Overrated Person In Music

Granted Pac's never made my Top 5 all-time, but it's not like he's Milkbone either:

Dead rapper Tupac "2Pac" Shakur, the hip-hop icon who sold more records after he was murdered than during his brief career, is the most overrated person in music, according to music magazine Blender. Shakur tops a tongue-in-cheek list that also includes "places, trends and other junk in rock," Blender said in its upcoming October issue, due on newsstands next week.

Other overrated finalists included the Grammys at No. 7, encores at No. 12, Pink Floyd at No. 14 and "the music you loved as a teenager" at No. 23. Shakur, a "gangsta" rapper who showed his sensitive side in movies, was killed during an unsolved drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996.

More than a dozen albums have been released in the ensuing years, and his image is almost as ubiquitous as that of Che Guevara or Bob Marley. But while Shakur was a decent rapper with "insane rock-star charisma," according to Blender, he also "larded records with self-mythologizing, mediocre filler."

Granted, this could be Blender's way of garnering much-needed attention in a music magazine business that's way too competitive, but when you really think about all the albums 'Pac's dropped (esp. since he passed) the amount of quality work has been pretty slim. Then too it's been way too long since I listened to a 'Pac album in its entirety (tho' I do have the Greatest Hits joint on my iPod like any hip-hop fiend should) and could anyone point to 'Pac album and really call it a "classic", on the level of Paid In Full, The Low End Theory or 36 Chambers? Even, in my opinion, his best work Me Against The World, had some filler. Whatever. If anything you just know all the 'Pac stans out there are gonna' be pretty heated about this one.

Diddy Wonders If Black People Live In Alaska

Spinning camera? Who does Puff think he is, Muhammad Ali?